Preparation and characterization of nano crystal cellulose from oil palm trunk for adsorption of methylene blue

Abstract

The research on cellulose as the primary material used for making adsorbents has significantly increased within the past few years due to the low operational costs, abundant availability, and biodegradability. The cellulose raw material can be prepared from agricultural waste and other biomasses that are naturally abundant. Cellulose is a non-toxic, low hazardous, renewable and sustainable natural resource. This research will utilize cellulose from oil palm trunk biomass, in which the cellulose will be processed into a Nano Crystal Cellulose (NCC)-based adsorbent. The preparation of NCC comprised of alkaline treatment, bleaching, hydrolysis, sonication, and freeze-drying steps. To characterize the NCC product, several analysis methods have been carried out. FTIR spectrophotometry was used to determine functional groups contained in the NCC product. XRD and PSA techniques were used to measure the degree of crystallinity and particle size of the product. Meanwhile, SEM and TEM were used to study the morphology of the NCC. Based on the XRD analysis, there was an increase of crystallinity degree by 55.526%. In addition, the PSA results showed that the crystal size range was 1.407 - 98.56 nm. Based on the BET calculation, the NCC product's had a surface area of 77.369 m2/gram. The adsorption test on a 1 ppm methylene blue solution sample found that the NCC had a removal percentage as high as 73.61% and an adsorption capacity of 2.799 mg/g. The morphology study on the NCC after adsorption showed a flower-like structure of methylene blue attached to the NCC.