High yield production of nanocrystalline cellulose from corn cob through a chemical-mechanical treatment under mild conditions

Abstract

Agricultural biomass waste such as corn cob is available in large quantities and can be used as renewable materials for various applications. Corn cob was converted into nanocrystalline cellulose by using mild sulfuric acid concentrations (30 % w/v) at low temperature (50 °C) and a relatively shorter time extraction (30 min) combined with mechanical treatment using a conventional high-speed blender. NCC from cellulose and α-cellulose from corn cobs have been successfully isolated with relatively high yields and crystallinities of 50.07-65.33 % and 65.5-69.9 %, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) evaluated the morphological variation and dimension from corn cob fiber (CF), delignification fiber (DF), cellulose, and α-cellulose, which shows that each pretreatment stage causes a decrease in fiber diameter from 16.56 to 5.48 μm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images confirmed the nano-scale dimension with fiber diameters ranging between 9.35 nm and 6.51 nm. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that NCC has relatively high thermal stability ranging from 429 to 437 °C. Thus, this characteristic of NCC has the potential to be applied as a reinforcing agent in various fields of polymer composites. Finally, this study presents a method for isolating NCC from corncob waste using a conventional high-speed blender in a mild condition process with a relatively low cost, environmentally friendly pathway, and high yield that was still preserved.

Keywords: Corn cob; Mild conditions; Nanocrystalline cellulose; α-Cellulose.