Search

This preliminary study investigated an environmentally friendly method for fabricating cellulose-rich dissolving pulp from Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) Trunk (VBOPT) fibre. This method encompassed an autohydrolysis pretreatment followed by soda pulping procedures. The impact of autohydrolysis pretreatment on the separation of lignocellulosic components was scrutinised to facilitate the production of chemical cellulose. Autohydrolysis was performed on VBOPT fibre for 60 min at temperatures ranging from 140°C to 160°C, maintaining a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:8. The yield of the prehydrolysed OPT varied between 73.5% and 91.5%. The chemical composition of the prehydrolysed VBOPT fibre comprised 70.6-80.0% holocellulose, 63.7-87.1% α-cellulose, 7.4-10.9% ß-cellulose, 5.5-25.4% γ-cellulose, and 21.5-26.6% lignin. The prehydrolysed OPT was subsequently subjected to alkaline pulping under fixed conditions: a temperature of 160°C, a treatment time of 60 min, a chemical charge of 25%, and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:6. The resultant pulp exhibited properties such as a screening yield of 41.5-46.4%, a kappa number of 4.5-9.6, and α, β, and γ cellulose content of 89.4-98.1%, 1.5-5.3%, and 0.4-6.9%, respectively. Based on the chemical composition of the OPT biomass before and after pretreatment, as well as post-alkaline cooking, the autohydrolysis pretreatment was determined to significantly influence the resultant pulp. A more comprehensive understanding of the interdependence of autohydrolysis and pulping processes can be achieved by executing an optimisation study focusing on key parameters of autohydrolysis and pulping, including temperature, treatment duration, and chemical charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soy protein is known for its eco-friendly, sustainable, and biodegradable qualities that are likely used as raw material in producing bioadhesive. However, soy protein-based adhesive are lacking in terms of adhesive strength and water-resistance compared to commercial formaldehyde-based adhesives such as phenol and urea-formaldehyde resin. Therefore, continuous research has been done to improve adhesive performance. This can be done via physical or modification methods, including the usage of cross-linking agents, structural modification, enzymatic modification, and the addition of additives. This review will cover these modification methods that give significant enhancement to the water-resistance and adhesive strength of soy protein-based adhesives. KEYWORDS adhesive performance, adhesive strength, modification, soy protein-based adhesive, water-resistance, 1 | INTRODUCTION Adhesives have been used in many different products such as, shoes, plasters, packaging, self-adhesive notes/ envelopes, as well as in wood composites. Formaldehyde-based adhesives such as urea-formaldehyde [...]

Macroalgae with nontoxicity, biodegradability and biocompatibility has attracted more attentions as a sustainable alternative towards petroleum-derived plastics. However, brittleness and high affinity towards water has limited marine-based macroalgae films to be widely used. Thus, this paper aims to compare the roles of calcium chloride as ionic cross-linker and acrylic resin as covalent cross-linker in agar-PEG plasticised biofilm composite. Agar biofilm composite with PEG 1000 40% were cross-linked with i) calcium chloride 1, 2, 3 and 4 (CaCl2/agar) wt/wt % at 2 or 4 min immersion time, and ii) acrylic resin at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 (acrylic resin/agar) wt/wt %. FTIR and TGA proved that CaCl2 and acrylic resin managed to cross-link agar-PEG films ionically and covalently respectively. In general, films cross-linked with CaCl2 produced highest affinity towards water than films cross-linked with acrylic resin. Highest tensile strength, highest tensile modulus and lowest elongation at break was achieved when films cross-linked with CaCl2. Films cross-linked with CaCl2 has higher degradation rate than films cross-linked with acrylic resin. In conclusion, different mode of cross-linking (ionic or covalent) imparted different properties on the agar-PEG film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of acidified chlorite (NaClO2) and totally chlorine free (TCF) bleaching were evaluated relative to the properties of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) fabricated from oil palm empty fruit bunch fibres (OPEFB). The MCC properties were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) methods, and they were compared with commercial MCC. The results revealed that all MCC belongs to cellulose type 1 and OPEFBNaClO2-MCC showed a higher crystallinity index than OPEFB-TCF-MCC. The TGA indicated that all MCC samples showed a higher decomposition temperature compared to pure cellulose. However, OPEFB-NaClO2-MCC showed better thermal stability than OPEFB-TCF-MCC. It was clear from SEM images that the different MCC particles had rough surfaces and micro-sized particles. Overall, results confirmed that the obtained MCC samples displayed comparable properties with those of commercial MCC. The MCC produced from OPEFB using NaClO2 is a promising material to prepare high value-added products compared to MCC produced using TCF delignification treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]