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Conocarpus fiber is an abundantly available and sustainable cellulosic biomass. With its richness in cellulose content, it is potentially used for manufacturing microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), a cellulose derivative product with versatile industrial applications. In this work, different samples of bleached fiber (CPBLH), alkali-treated fiber (CPAKL), and acid-treated fiber (CPMCC) were produced from Conocarpus through integrated chemical process of bleaching, alkaline cooking, and acid hydrolysis, respectively. Characterizations of samples were carried out with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared-Ray (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric (TGA), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). From morphology study, the bundle fiber feature of CPBLH disintegrated into micro-size fibrils of CPMCC, showing the amorphous compounds were substantially removed through chemical depolymerization. Meanwhile, the elemental analysis also proved that the traces of impurities such as cations and anions were successfully eliminated from CPMCC. The CPMCC also gave a considerably high yield of 27%, which endowed it with great sustainability in acting as alternative biomass for MCC production. Physicochemical analysis revealed the existence of crystalline cellulose domain in CPMCC had contributed it 75.7% crystallinity. In thermal analysis, CPMCC had stable decomposition behavior comparing to CPBLH and CPAKL fibers. Therefore, Conocarpus fiber could be a promising candidate for extracting MCC with excellent properties in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olive fiber is a renewable natural fiber which has potential as an alternative biomass for extraction of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). MCC has been widely applied in various industries owing to its small dimensional size for ease of reactive fabrication process. At present study, a serial treatments of bleaching, alkaline and acid hydrolysis was employed to extract OL-BLF, OL-PUF, and OL-MCC respectively from olive stem fiber. In morphology examination, a feature of short micro-crystallite particles was obtained for OL-MCC. The particle size was found gradually reducing from OL-PUF (305.31 μm) to OL-MCC (156.06 μm) due to the disintegration of cellulose fibrils. From physicochemical analysis, most lignin and hemicellulose components had been removed from OL-BLF to form OL-PUF with individually fibril structure. The elemental analysis revealed that highly pure cellulose component was obtained for OL-MCC. Also, the rigidity had been improved from OL-BLF to OL-PUF, while with the highest for OL-MCC with 74.2% crystallinity, endowing it as a reliable load-bearing agent. As for thermal analysis, OL-MCC had the most stable heat resistance in among the chemically-treated fibers. Therefore, olive MCC could act as a promising reinforcing agent to withstand harsh conditions for variety fields of composite applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Olive fiber as alternative biomaterial for nanocrystalline cellulose extraction. • Isolation of individual nanoparticles with well dispersed behaviour. • Enhanced cellulose compartment within nanocrystals feature. • Highly strong and rigid structure of produced nanocrystalline cellulose. • Improved thermal stability with different acid hydrolysis reaction times treatment. Olive fiber is a sustainable material as well as alternative biomass for extraction of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), which has been widely applied in various industries. In the present study, ONC-I, ONC-II, and ONC-III were extracted from olive stem fiber at different hydrolysis reaction times of 30 min, 45 min, and 60 min, respectively. The nanoparticle size was found gradually reducing from ONC-I (11.35 nm width, 168.28 nm length) to ONC-III (6.92 nm width, 124.16 nm length) due to the disintegration of cellulose fibrils. ONC-II and ONC-III possessed highly pure cellulose compartments and enhanced crystals structure. This study also showed that rigidity increased from ONC-I to ONC-II. ONC-III showed the highest crystallinity of 83.1 %, endowing it as a potentially reliable load-bearing agent. Moreover, ONC-III exhibited highest stable heat resistance among the chemically-isolated nanocellulose. We concluded that olive NCC could be promising materials for a variety of industrial applications in various fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]