Removal Of Hemicellulose Research Articles

Structural changes of lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) from Chinese quince fruits during the sequential fractionation of pectic and hemicellulosic polysaccharides

Chinese quince (Chaenomeles sinensis) fruits offer a potential source of pectin and hemicellulose. However, the existence of lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) can negatively impact the extraction of pectin and hemicellulose. In this work, LCCs were sequentially fractionated from Chinese quince during the removal of pectin and hemicellulose. The structures of LCCs were characterized by HPAEC, FT-IR, GPC, Py-GC/MS, TGA and 2D HSQC NMR. The results showed that the carbohydrate content and molecular weight of LCCs was found to be changed significantly after the removal of hemicellulose (KSH). The lignin in Björkman LCCs was found to be linked mainly to galactan and fructan, whereas the lignin LCC-AcOHs was found to be linked mainly to arabinan after the removal of KSH. The isolation of carbonate-soluble pectin (NSP) increased thermal stability of Björkman LCC fraction, however, the isolation of chelator-soluble pectin (CSP) increased the thermal stability of LCC-AcOHs. The S/G ratios of LCC-AcOHs increased and large amounts of S-type lignin released during sequential fractionation of pectin and hemicellulose. These results will be beneficial for understanding the mechanisms of pectin and hemicellulose isolation, thereby facilitating the potential application of Chinese quince as a valuable natural resource for food and other industries.

Suppression Effect of Gamma-Valerolactone on the Mild Alkaline Pretreatment of Hybrid Pennisetum

Gamma-valerolactone (GVL) assisted NaOH/water pretreatment for hybrid pennisetum delignification was first investigated. Contrary to the hypothesized results, the addition of GVL significantly suppressed the delignification and hemicellulose removal by mild alkaline pretreatment (37 °C for 24 h). An addition of GVL to GVL/NaOH molar ratio of 1/1 resulted in lignin removal at ∼23% compared with that at ∼75% without GVL. This suppression effect was further confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The extracted lignin was further characterized by two-dimensional heteronuclear single quantum coherence nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, suggesting that the addition of GVL suppressed the decomposition of large lignin molecules by NaOH/water and the release of hemicellulose, resulting in extracted lignin with lower molecular weights and less hemicellulose. The decrease in the partial alkalinity (PA) of alkaline solutions caused by GVL addition was likely the main reason for the suppressed delignification, suggested by the good correlation between PA and delignification in both GVL/NaOH/water and NaOH/water (R2 = 0.967). This study suggested that solvent-assisted alkaline pretreatment can also result in an unwanted suppression effect, and the changes in PA could be referred to as an indicator while selecting organic solvents.

Rapid, high-yield production of lignin-containing cellulose nanocrystals using recyclable oxalic acid dihydrate

Nanocellulose is of growing interest due to its great potential in many value-added applications and its unique characteristics. However, conventional methods for nanocellulose isolation are challenged by various economic and environmental concerns. With the use of recyclable oxalic acid dihydrate (OAD), this study demonstrated the rapid, high-yield production of lignin-containing cellulose nanocrystals (LCNCs) from thermomechanical pulp (TMP). Serving as the sole solvent and reactant, molten OAD effectively hydrolyzed TMP within 30 min at 110 °C, leading to complete removal of hemicellulose (97 %) but retaining most of the cellulose (93 %) and lignin (97 %). This modified TMP can be converted into LCNCs with a high overall yield of >70 % via microfluidization. The LCNCs possessed satisfactory thermal stability and exhibited a nanoscale morphology of highly uniform cellulose nanocrystals (7.0 nm in width, 3.9 nm in height, 200–300 nm in length, and 72 % in crystallinity), randomly implanted by lignin aggregates. The unreacted OAD could also be readily recycled via crystallization from the post-hydrolysis mixture. The recycled OAD showed good performance retention for at least 4 cycles, indicating its suitability for continuous TMP hydrolysis. Further life cycle assessment suggested that the recycling potential could reduce the global warming potential and energy use by 48 % and 47 %, respectively. Overall, it was apparent that recycling molten OAD provided a promising approach to rapidly make clean, high-yield LCNCs with low energy use and improved reagent utilization.

Characterization of Microstructure, Chemical, and Physical Properties of Delignified and Densified Poplar Wood.

Wood is an attractive and inherently sustainable alternative to many conventional materials. Recent research on improving wood mechanical strength emphasizes wood densification through the partial removal of lignin and hemicelluloses, therefore the chemical and physical properties of delignified and densified wood require further investigation. In this study, poplar wood samples were subjected to alkali and maleic acid hydrotropic delignification with varying degrees of lignin and hemicellulose removal followed by hot pressing, and the microstructure, chemical properties, and dimensional stability of densified wood through delignification were evaluated. The results showed that the complete wood cell collapse was observed near the surface of all the delignified wood blocks, as well as some micro-cracks in the cell walls. The chemical analysis indicated that delignification occurred mainly near the surface of the wood blocks and enhanced hydrogen bonding among the aligned cellulose fibers. For dimensional stability, the set recovery decreased with the increase in alkali dosage, and the considerable fixation of compressive deformation was obtained by a post-densification hydrothermal treatment at 180 °C. These results have demonstrated that the densified wood with delignification can be easily fabricated using the proposed method, and the densified wood exhibited great potential to be used as a sustainable material.

Eco-friendly Process to Degum Flax Roving with Deep Eutectic Solvent and Microbial Treatment

ABSTRACT Flax is an economically important fiber crop, however, it requires degumming to yield usable fibers. The degumming process of flax roving is a key step in flax processing and production. In this study, deep eutectic solvent (DES; choline chloride–urea) pretreatment was combined with microbial treatment to develop an ecofriendly and effective degumming method for flax roving. The optimal conditions for DES pretreatment (100°C for 120 min with 90% DES) were obtained through orthogonal tests. DES combine microbial treatment could effectively remove gum from the flax fibers. The flax roving fibers were characterized by chemical analyses, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and thermogravimetric analysis. Compared with fibers treated with microbes alone, flax roving fibers subjected to DES combine microbial treatment showed better breaking tenacity (16.77 cN/tex) and average pectin, hemicellulose, and lignin removal rates of approximately 86.4%, 26.7%, and 55.1%, respectively. NMR revealed that the composition of DES was not damaged during pretreatment, which means the bulk solution could be reused. This research showed that DES combine microbial treatment is feasible and effective method for flax roving degumming.

Biological pretreatment of corn stover for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis using Bacillus sp. P3

The biological pretreatment for the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomasses depends exclusively on the effective pretreatment process. Herein, we report a significant enhancement of enzymatic saccharification obtained with corn stover using a bacterial strain Bacillus sp. P3. The hemicellulose removal from corn stover by the strain Bacillus sp. P3 was evaluated for enhancing subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. Therefore, our study revealed that an alkaline-resistant xylanase as well as other enzymes produced by Bacillus sp. P3 in fermentation broth led to a substantially enhanced hemicellulose removal rate from corn stover within pH 9.36–9.68. However, after a 20-day pretreatment of corn stover by the strain P3, the glucan content was increased by 51% and the xylan content was decreased by 35%. After 72 h of saccharification using 20 U/g of commercial cellulase, the yield of reducing sugar released from 20-day pretreated corn stover was increased by 56% in comparison to the untreated corn stover. Therefore, the use of the strain P3 could be a promising approach to pretreat corn stover for enhancing the enzymatic hydrolysis process of industrial bioenergy productions.

A new strategy to improve ramie degumming based on removal of the xylan branched structure

Ramie fiber is known as the “king of natural fibers,” and the key to its wide application is efficient and green manufacturing. Microbial degumming has gradually become a hot area of research due to its environmental protection and mild operating conditions. However, some gummy materials remain after microbial degumming. Xylan is the main component of residual gums; its acetylated branched chains create the space barrier that makes the removal of hemicellulose difficult during ramie degumming. An acetyl xylan esterase (AXE) was obtained from Bacillus pumilus and characterized to solve this problem. Its optimum temperature and pH were 35°C and 8.0, respectively, and it had good temperature and pH stability. These properties were consistent with the conditions of ramie degumming and they laid a foundation for the application of AXE in ramie degumming. Besides, an engineered strain with a high activity of AXE was constructed successfully on the basis of the wild-type degumming strain Pectobacterium carotovorum HG-49 and used for ramie degumming. The removal rate of hemicellulose and total gums by the engineered strain increased by 4.89% and 2.53%, respectively, compared with that of the wild-type strain. Moreover, the role of this AXE in ramie degumming was further proven by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. This study showed that AXE played an important role in the removal of hemicellulose in the degumming process of ramie fibers, thus providing a promising degumming strategy for ramie and other bast fiber plants.

Phosphotungstic acid assisted with neutral deep eutectic solvent boost corn straw pretreatment for enzymatic saccharification and lignin extraction

In this study, the eco-friendly heteropoly acids-phosphotungstic acid (PTA) was chosen as a catalyst to assist neutral deep eutectic solvents (DESs) for deconstructing corn straw. The reactions were performed with a shorter time at 110–150 °C than other DES system. The results revealed that most of the lignin (86.1 %) and hemicellulose (89.7 %) were removed while cellulose was obtained in high yields (88.9–94.3 %). Benefiting from the removal of hemicellulose and lignin, the enzymatic digestibility of pretreated materials was noticeably boosted to 94.4 %, which was 5.3-fold higher than the untreated corn straw. Meanwhile, the regenerated lignin nanoparticle was acquired with a relatively high purity (more than 85 wt%), low and homogeneous molecular weight (5669−2437 g/mol). Furthermore, the PTA/DES demonstrated excellent cycle performance. Overall, technically feasible PTA catalyzed DES pretreatment presented in-depth analysis for effective deconstruction of corn straw recalcitrance for crops valorization in the future.

A one-step deconstruction-separation organosolv fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass using acetone/phenoxyethanol/water ternary solvent system

A novel ternary solvent system for organosolv fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass, named APW process, which is composed of acetone, phenoxyethanol and water with the advantages of monophasic deconstruction and biphasic separation of components was developed. Through fractionation of amorpha as a case study, a monophasic APW solution (acetone/phenoxyethanol/water = 5:11:4, volume ratio) with the best lignin affinity was constructed based on Hansen solubility parameters. According to Taguchi experimental design, the optimal conditions were 130 °C, 70 min, 0.15 M sulfuric acid and 20 LSR. Under optimal conditions, removal of lignin and hemicellulose reached 95.60% and 98.39%, respectively. While 80.48% of cellulose was retained in residue and its digestibility was 80.36%. Then, 83.74% of hemicellulose was recovered from aqueous as sugars, and 35.64% of lignin was recovered by precipitation. Moreover, APW process also have effective fractionation of sugarcane bagasse, corn cob and pine, cellulose and hemicellulose recovery were both over 80%.

Enzymatic hydrolysis enhancement of oil palm empty fruit bunch by Peracetic-Sulfuric acid pretreatment

The use of Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) for bioethanol production requires lignin and hemicellulose removals to provide more enzyme accessibility during the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose. The well-known Dilute sulfuric acid (DS)-pretreatment degraded mainly the hemicellulose with minimal delignification. Oppositely, Peracetic acid (PA) degraded selectively the lignin, leaving most of the hemicellulose. In this study, the addition of PA 200 mM to H2SO4 100 mM (called PS) under electromagnetic irradiation (140 °C for 5 min) led to the high effectiveness of not only hemicellulose removal (88.5%) but also delignification (81.3%). This effective pretreatment enriched the OPEFB quality (cellulose composition) to 83.5% from 49.9% in unpretreated, compared to 62.9% in DS-pretreated OPEFB. The PS-pretreatment enhances the enzymatic digestibility to 77.0% (at 35 EGU cellulase and 30 U β-glucosidase/g cellulose), 1.8- and 11.9-times higher than those of DS-pretreated and unpretreated OPEFB, respectively. This high effectiveness of PS-pretreatment provides a potential way towards economically feasible bioethanol production from OPEFB.

Non-thermal plasma as an innovative pretreatment technology in delignification of brewery by-product

Non-thermal plasma was applied as an innovative pretreatment for the delignification of brewery by-products. The influence of different plasma gases (pure air or air/argon), time and solids concentration (7.5, 10 and 12.5%) was evaluated during the delignification tests. The levels of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were monitored before and after treatment. The reduction in lignin content was approximately 50% after 5 min using pure air in all tested solids concentrations. Longer pretreatment times (60 min) influenced the removal of hemicellulose (50%) and cellulose (12%), also indicated by morphological changes. After 5 and 60 min of plasma application, the physical-chemical characteristics showed minor changes in its chemical composition, mainly affected by the losses of lignocellulosic compounds. Non-thermal plasma is considered an attractive alternative for the pretreatment of brewery by-products, resulting mainly in removing lignin, assisting in subsequent processes such as the enzymatic hydrolysis of the spent solid.

Quality of Physalis peruviana fruits coated with pectin and pectin reinforced with nanocellulose from P. peruviana calyces

Physalis peruviana is marketed without its calyx, which generates byproducts and a decrease in the shelf life of these fruits. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of edible pectin-coatings reinforced with nanocellulose from calyx on the physical-chemical and physiological parameters of P. peruviana fruits during refrigerated storage (5 °C) for ten days. The nanocellulose extraction was carried out using a combined extraction method (chemical procedures and ultrasound radiation). The characterization of the fibers showed that the maximum degradation temperatures ranged between 300 and 311 °C. The SEM analysis revealed the presence of fibers after the chemical treatment. The removal of lignin and hemicellulose was validated using Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results showed that the fruits treated with pectin and pectin reinforced with nanocellulose at 0.5 % (w/w) had an adequate visual appearance and showed a minor color change (ΔE of 19.04 and 21.04, respectively) and the highest retention of L∗ during storage. Although the addition of nanocellulose at 0.5% presented the lowest respiratory rate (29.60 mgCO2/kg h), the treatment with pectin offered the least weight loss and showed the highest firmness retention at the end of storage. Thus, the edible pectin-coating may be useful for improving the postharvest quality and storage life of fresh P. peruviana fruit. Nanocellulose from P. peruviana calyces can be used under the concept of a circular economy; although, its use as a reinforcement of pectin showed some limitations.

Green approach to facilely design hydrophobic aerogel directly from bagasse

Under the promotion of sustainability, aerogels derived from bagasse have been developing. The reported bagasse aerogels are normally prepared by the treatment of bagasse with dissolution and regeneration or the removal of hemicellulose and lignin, and their hydrophobicity is achieved by silanes, leading to complicated and even environmental-unfriendly processes. In this report, we designed a novel, green and facile technique to prepare hydrophobic bagasse aerogels by milling of bagasse, mixing with alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) emulsion, freeze drying and thermo-crosslinking. Interestingly, AKD behaved as strength agent to endow aerogels with lower density, higher porosity, and better strength in comparison with the pristine bagasse aerogel. Increasing AKD or slurry concentration, their density and porosity displayed an increase and decrease tendency, respectively, resulting in a normal distribution of their oil absorption properties. Optimal hydrophobic bagasse aerogel was obtained at an AKD content of 10 wt% and slurry consistency of 3 wt%, whose density, porosity and water contact angle was 47.3 mg cm–3, 95.9 % and 148 °, respectively. It exhibited a high oil absorption capacity (31.65 g g–1) and a low thermal conductivity (36.28 mW m–1K–1), which could be applied for oil/water or emulsion separation and thermal insulation. The fabrication method would provide a novel idea for other bio-based hydrophobic aerogels.

Influence of partial components removal on pyrolysis behavior of lignocellulosic biowaste in molten salts

Using molten NaNO3–KNO3–NaNO2 for biowaste pyrolysis provides a promising way to synergize the utilization of biowaste and fluctuating solar energy. However, the diversity of lignocellulosic biowaste and violent decomposition complicated the interactions between natural constituents. In this study, the pyrolysis behavior of woody and agricultural herbaceous lignocellulosic biowaste in molten salts was comprehensively investigated at 300 °C. Through the selective removal of partial hemicellulose or lignin, the specific role of the original structure on the products formation characteristics was further estimated. The results showed that more volatiles were released from the hemicellulose-enriched agricultural herbaceous biowaste than cellulose-enriched woody biowaste. The yields of water and organic liquids from hemicellulose or lignin removal were higher than that of raw biowaste. Specifically, hemicellulose dominated the generation of nitrogenous substances in the liquid products. As for the gas product, its yield from the hemicellulose removal sample was higher than raw biowaste but it decreased after removing lignin. Lignin was the primary contributor to the combustible CO, H2, and CH4, while the production of CO2 was more affected by hemicellulose. The lignin would compete with hemicellulose and be superior to the latter in the reaction with molten salt.

Structural and compositional changes induced by hydrothermal and organosolv pretreatments impacts enzymatic hydrolysis of a tropical forage grass grown under future climate conditions

Panicum maximum represents an alternative as a dedicated energy crop for biorefinery. However, both pretreatment step and climate conditions impact its chemical composition and possibly its hydrolytic performance. Therefore, this study looks into integrating the future effect of the climate conditions and the pretreatment methods on the hydrolytic performance of P. maximum. Through a Trop-T-FACE system, P. maximum grown under three hypothetical future climate conditions: elevated temperature ((eT), which is 2 °C more than the ambient canopy temperature), elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration ((eC) up to 600 μmol mol-1) and the combined effects (eT + eC). Subsequently, the groups were subjected to the liquid hot water (LHW) and organosolv (ORG) pretreatments, which enhanced biomass digestibility by mostly hemicellulose and lignin removal, respectively. Furthermore, optimized hydrolysis and fluorescent protein-tagged carbohydrate-binding modules binding suggested that P. maximum pretreated by LHW has greater saccharification yields and higher cellulose surface accessibility/exposure. This shows that hemicellulose directly impacts P. maximum recalcitrance, and its removal was the optimum pretreatment strategy. Concerning the studied expected future climate conditions, LHW samples did not show significant differences in hydrolysis yields at low solids loading (2%). However, at 10 % solids, eC had higher conversion yields (likely due to minimum end-product inhibition). Similarly, for organosolv pretreated samples, eC (at 2 and 10 % solid loading) exhibited greater cellulose-glucan conversion yields among the climate conditions groups and the highest cellulose accessibility. Thus, this work contributes to understand better the influence of both studied pretreatment methods and future climate conditions on the conversion efficiency of a critical energy crop and might assist in selecting the best pretreatment method to mitigate the climate effects and achieve greater hydrolysis yields.

Obtaining jute fabrics with enhanced sorption properties and “closing the loop” of their lifecycle

The objective of this investigation was to obtain jute fabrics with enhanced sorption properties (by using simple and cost-effective alkali and oxidative modifications) and a long life cycle. The applied alkali modifications lead to hemicellulose removal and decreased the fibers’ crystallinity, both contributing to enhanced fibers’ sorption properties, i.e., water retention power and degree of fibers’ swelling up to 49 % and 70 %, respectively. A connection between cellulose polymorphs’ (cellulose I and cellulose II) contents (determined by XRD), fibers’ surface morphology (verified by FESEM), fabrics’ crimp, and capillarity of jute fabrics modified with 17.5 % NaOH was established. During the oxidative modifications, significant changes in jute fibers’ chemical composition and structure (i.e., lignin removal and more homogeneous middle lamellae) occurred which further resulted in enhanced jute fabrics’ water retention power and capillarity as well as fibers’ swelling up to 80 %, 75 %, and 54 %, compared to the raw jute, respectively. In order to move towards a circular economy and to ensure the recycling and re-use of recycled fabrics, the jute fabrics with enhanced sorption properties were evaluated as biosorbents for anthraquinone dye C. I. Acid Blue 111. The obtained results revealed that the jute fabrics’ maximum biosorption capacities for this dye ranged from 12.94 to 18.97 mg/g, while the equilibrium adsorption data were highly consistent with the Langmuir isotherm model. Moreover, based on the predicted dye pKa values, the fabric zeta potential, content of carboxyl and aldehyde groups as well as hydrogen bond intensity (determined by ATR-FTIR), a possible mechanism of the dye biosorption onto jute fabric waste was proposed.

Mechanical and Structural Characterization of Pineapple Leaf Fiber

Evidence-based research had shown that elevated alkali treatment of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) compromised the mechanical properties of the fiber. In this work, PALF was subjected to differential alkali concentrations: 1, 3, 6, and 9% wt/wt to study the influence on the mechanical and crystal properties of the fiber. The crystalline and mechanical properties of untreated and alkali-treated PALF samples were investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and tensile testing analysis. The XRD results indicated that crystal properties of the fibers were modified with 6% wt/wt alkali-treated PALF recording the highest crystallinity and crystallite size of 76% and 24 nm, respectively. The FTIR spectra suggested that all alkali-treated PALF samples underwent lignin and hemicellulose removal to varying degrees. An increase in the crystalline properties improved the mechanical properties of the PALF treated with alkali at 6% wt/wt, which has the highest tensile strength (1620 MPa). Although the elevated alkali treatment resulted in decreased mechanical properties of PALF, crystallinity generally increased. The findings revealed that the mechanical properties of PALF not only improve with increasing crystallinity and crystallite size, but are also dependent on the intermediate bond between adjacent cellulose chains.

Low temperature green extraction of Acer platanoides cellulose using nitrogen protected microwave assisted extraction (NPMAE) technique

Practicability of advanced and innovative techniques facilitates the high yield of cellulose extraction within a short period. The research aimed at the extraction of naturally abundant cellulose from Acer platanoides by “Nitrogen protected microwave assisted extraction (NPMAE)”. The NPMAE uses microwaves for heating the sample and helps in fast extraction of cellulose in the presence of nitrogen atmosphere. Cellulose extraction was intensified by bleaching treatment in closed multimode NPMAE system at 100 W and 120 °C for 15 min. Experiment's result found that Acer platanoides fiber contains 70% cellulose content and diffferent analysis were studied for all chemically pre-treated fibers and found variations in results after each chemical treatment. The SEM results of bleached fibers show the rough surface due to the removal of lignin and hemicellulose. XRD pattern and FTIR analysis are in the favor of cellulose extraction and results show the presence of type I cellulose with 65% crystallinity index whileTGA and dTGA results explain that cellulose of Acer platanoides bleached fibers (APBF) is more thermally stable below 370 °C than other pre-treated fibers.

Extraction and characterization of cellulose from agricultural waste materials

Agricultural and industrial wastes are produced in huge amount throughout the worldwide. In Sultanate Oman and other regions, these wastes are generally not exploited to be re-used or recycled. Waste materials have become of interest due to the beneficial use of the residual biomass left behind. These wastes tend to have harmful impacts on the environment because they might contain strong fibers that decompose at slow rate under normal environmental conditions. Agricultural waste materials contain cellulose which can be extracted to be used in many important processes including the production of bio-plastic and the production of food. The project conducted to isolate and characterize cellulose from waste residuals. Cellulose has been isolated from waste residuals via alkali pretreatment using NaOH followed by bleaching process, while cellulose was produced via acid hydrolysis method using sulfuric acid (H2SO4). The cellulose produced was characterized with Fourier Transform Inferred Spectroscopy (FTIR) in which it is found the main dominant functional groups are O–H and C–H, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which showed a smooth surface morphology which indicates the removal of wax, lignin & hemicellulose and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) showed that the cellulose approximately contains of 64.5 wt% of C, 30 wt% of O, 1% S and 1.7% Na.

Hemp fiber surface modification: Its effect on mechanical and tribological properties of hemp fiber reinforced epoxy composites

AbstractIn this research work, the effects of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide treatment of hemp fiber on the water absorption, mechanical, and tribological properties of hemp fiber reinforced epoxy composites (HFREC) were investigated. The change in surface roughness and fiber size after chemical treatment was confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Fourier transform infrared analysis confirmed the removal of hemicellulose and lignin content of the fiber after both the chemical treatment. X‐ray diffraction analysis showed an increase in the crystallinity index of the chemically treated fiber. The experimental results also revealed that both sodium carbonate and peroxide modification have resulted in enhancement of water resistance and mechanical properties such as tensile strength and tensile modulus and reduction in impact properties of treated HFREC. Tribological test results revealed that the treated HFREC have improved wear and frictional properties in comparison with untreated HFREC. The best tribological and mechanical properties were exhibited by peroxide treated HFREC, which was also confirmed through the SEM images of worn and fractured surfaces of the composites.