In this paper, a comparison of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) fabrication from Gelidium amansii using two kinds of grinding processes is presented. The cellulose from Gelidium amansii is pretreated with hydrogen peroxide and sodium carbonate in a separating and bleaching process. Then, two grinding processes (method A and B) are used to fabricate CNFs. The first is a traditional method of fabricating CNFs using a disc grinder, whereas the second method is identical to the first, but includes an additional step involving a planetary ball mill. In the new method (method B), dry cellulose powder is prepared using a planetary ball mill, which has the advantage of long-term storage and maintains the original quality of the cellulose. The morphological changes of the dry cellulose powder and CNFs are determined using scanning electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The physical characteristics of the CNFs are found to be significantly different when we change the disc grinder used in the grinding method to produce nanometer scale where the best result is homogeneous, uniform CNFs with a fabricated width of 19 nm.
Keywords: cellulose nanofiber (CNF); disc grinder; dry cellulose powder; planetary ball mill (PBM).