Sodium carboxylmethylate cellulose from date palm rachis as a sizing agent for cotton yarn

Abstract

The chemical composition of date palm rachis wastes, which are widely available cellulosic biomass-based agricultural crops in Tunisia, were characterized to determine if they had the potential for use as a starting raw material to prepare cellulose derivatives. To accomplish this, several sodium cellulose carboxylmethylates (NaCMCs) were prepared and tested as sizing agents for coating yarn. The synthesis of NaCMC was conducted in n-butanol containing NaOH (40 %) as a solvent mixture and monochloroacetic acid (MAC) as the etherifying reagent. The NaCMC samples were characterized based on their degrees of substitution (DS) and polymerization (DP). The prepared NaCMC samples were then tested as sizing agents for cotton yarn in textile applications. Specifically, different NaCMC samples were used to prepare a coating bath, which was then applied to size a cotton yarn textile. The quality of the coated yarns was subsequently evaluated by determining three parameters, yarn hairiness, the load at break, and the elongation at break. The sizing performances of the NaCMCs prepared from date palm rachis wastes were then compared with those of commercial NaCMC. The values of hairiness, breaking load, and breaking elongation of some of the NaCMC-treated yarns were as high as those prepared using commercial additives as sizing agents. These findings indicate that the cellulose derivatives prepared in this study are good candidates for alternatives to currently available additives.