DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v25i3.323

Keywords: Extraction; bamboo fibre; Gigantochloa scortechinii; microcrystalline cellulose

Abstract

Recently, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) has been widely utilized in numerous applications such as polymer composites, packaging materials and pharmaceutical compounds (as adsorbents or binders), owing to its exceptional properties. Thus, greener approaches and new renewable sources’ raw materials have gained attention from many researchers due to the insufficient amount of non-renewable resources. This research aims to extract and characterize the MCC from bamboo fibre (Gigantochloa scortechinii) by going through two different methods of preparation. The first extraction of MCC (MCC-1) was carried out through the chemical alkali treatment by using 5 wt% NaOH, continued by the acidified bleaching treatment. Then, the second MCC (MCC-2) was fabricated via further acid hydrolysis method using 40 wt% sulfuric acid at 45°C for 60 min. Next, the obtained MCC-1 and MCC-2 were characterized in terms of its morphologies, structural, crystallinity, composition, and thermal stability features through scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses. The SEM analyses illustrate the shape of MCC-1 is long rod-like structure with the diameter is ranging from 14.10 to 14.21 µm. Meanwhile, MCC-2 consists of short rod-like structure, and the diameter ranging from 2.87 to 12.07 µm. The EDX analysis indicates that the carbon content in MCC-1 and MCC-2 are estimated at 54.5% and 52.2%, respectively. The crystallinity index of MCC-2 (78.68%) are calculated to be higher than MCC-1 (58.94%). In conclusion, the inexpensive MCC-2 derived from bamboo fibre (Gigantochloa scortechinii) is emphasized as one of the potential renewable and sustainable resources. It also has a great deal of potential to be widely adopted in a variety of industrial implementations and as a promising solution to the environmental pollution’s issues.