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Sengon (Albizia chinensis) is a type of forest plant that grows quickly and is widely used to meet human needs. The large number of uses of Sengon wood causes sengon wood waste, such as sawdust, to increase. The study’s aim is to analyze the morphology and structure of sawdust waste after adding magnetic (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. The methods include collecting sawdust waste from wood (Sengon) was conducted by the crushing process to get smaller sawdust sizes. Alkalization was applied to sawdust and followed by a bleaching process. The powder is then immersed in a solution containing magnetic (Fe3O4) nanoparticles of 10wt%, and then dried. Sawdust composite powder the analyzed using X-ray diffraction and electron microscope instruments. The result indicates that magnetic nanoparticles deposit on sawdust powder and then make the powder become rougher. Higher content of magnetic nanoparticles causes higher agglomeration. The diffraction pattern with 2θ of 14, 16, and 22 indicates that the structure of sawdust is cellulose 1β. The degree of crystalline of sawdust powder reduces from 76.1% to 73.3% after adding magnetic nanoparticle. In the future, these composite powder results will develop as flocculants for wastewater treatment.

The load transfer effectiveness from matrix to reinforcement is depended on the interface condition of the fiber surface and matrix. Chemical treatment can change fiber properties. The current study aims to evaluate the influence of chemical treatment using silane solution on interface shear strength (ISS) of Sansevieria cylindrica fiber (SCF) reinforced epoxy composite. The research procedure includes silane treatment on SCF with percentage silane concentrations of 0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0%. ISS was evaluated by a single fiber pullout procedure. SCF crystallinity, functional group, and morphology were evaluated using X-ray diffraction, Infrared spectrometry, and electron microscope. The result shows that the surface morphology of SCF became rough and the surface rougher after silane treatment of 7.5%. SCF with no treatment has a degree of crystallinity of 66.0%, but after being treated with silane treatment, the degree of crystallinity increased, and the highest value of 75.0% was obtained from the silane treatment of 10.0%. The ISS increases following the increasing silane concentration. The highest ISS of 91.3 MPa was obtained at a silane treatment of 10.0%, with an increasing ISS of 129.0% compared to the control specimen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia is the larger pineapple producer country in the world, so they have the potential to generate biomass waste from the peel. Pineapple peel content is a carbon source in the fermentation process for producing bacterial cellulose. Some nanomaterials such as TiO2 and Graphene oxide has been increased the adsorption of ion metal and water purification in nanocomposite membranes. CuO nanomaterial has functioned as an antibacterial material in biomedical applications. So, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of adding CuO nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) to the characteristic of bacterial nanocellulose-based membranes made of pineapple peel waste. The methods include synthesizing bacterial cellulose from pineapple peels and producing bacterial nanocellulose in a high-speed blender and a nano-homogenizer. Raw materials such as BC, CTAB, and CuO-NPs (concentrations of 1.0% and 2.0%) were mixed and homogenized using an ultrasonic homogenizer, then filtered and freeze-dried at -62oC for two days to obtain a membrane. Using SEM, XRD, FTIR, surface roughness, and tensile tester we can see the addition of CuO-NPs can affect the characteristic of BC/CuO nanocomposite. SEM Results show that the surface morphology containing a lower concentration of CuO-NPs has better homogeneity dispersion. From XRD analysis, by addition, CuO-NPs can be appearing new peaks at 35.47o and 38.68o, but it reduces the degree of crystallinity, crystallinity index, and Crystalline size of the membrane but increases its surface roughness. Adding CuO-NPs to the BC structure causes a shift and change of transmittance value that indicate the interaction of CuO to BC fibril. The highest tensile strength of nanocomposite membrane is 69.643 MPa, obtained from a lower concentration of CuO-NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]