Production of cellulose nanocrystals from the waste banana (M. oranta) tree rachis fiber as a reinforcement to fabricate useful bionanocomposite
Md. Mahmudur Rahman, Md. Elius Hosen Pk, Md. Waliullah, Md. Ismail Hossain, Mohd. Maniruzzaman, Bijoy Chandra Ghos
Abstract
• CNCs were produced from a new source of M. Oranta waste biomass by H 2 SO 4 hydrolysis • Which have a promising size, spherical shape & negative surface charge nearly -45 mV • They possessed active binging site like –OH, -COOH, -NH, proved by FTIR-ATR analysis • Higher CrI (81.1%) & thermal stability up to 700°C indicate their structural purity • Polyfunctional CNC would be beneficial candidate to fabricate ecofriendly composites It is crucial to produce CNCs from the waste biomass of secondary plants to reduce the extra pressure on primary plants which have other advantageous applications in many sectors. Whereas the useless banana ( M. oranta ) rachis after harvesting its edible part could be a very new and beneficial one. Meanwhile, several well-known methods could be conducted, namely water retting, scouring, alkali treatment, chlorite bleaching, and acid hydrolysis, to yield high-quality CNCs. The samples of all stages were characterized by several state-of-the-art techniques, namely FTIR-ATR, TGA, FESEM, XRD, UV-vis-NIR, DLS, and zeta potential analysis, for a better understanding of their structural properties/purity. However, obtained results recommended that the CNCs have shown extensive active edges, greater thermal improvement up to 700°C, high crystallinity around 81.07±0.15% with JCPDS-ICDD card number (00-056-1718), a honeycomb-like porous microstructure, and promising spherical shapes along with an average size around 50nm. Additionally, the newly produced CNCs were free from all impurities and coloring materials and revealed a higher negatively charged surface around -45mV. Therefore, due to these outstanding features, banana rachis CNCs with a high yield (around 82.05±0.06%) would be beneficially used as promising reinforcement to fabricate useful bionanocomposite for various applications to replace fossil-based hazardous synthetic materials.