Radiation degradation of microcrystalline cellulose in solid status

Pulverization and degradation are important pretreatment procedures in producing bio-ethanol from cellulose. In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), a pure alpha-cellulose, was degraded by gamma-irradiation. The average degree of polymerization, content of reducing sugar, crystalline structure, and molecular structure were investigated to elucidate the radiation effect on the degradation of MCC. The results manifested that gamma-ray destroyed part of the chemical bond and hydrogen bond, leading to the degradation of cellulose and increasing of the reducing sugar content. According to the Fourier transform infrared result, radiation degradation led to the formation of reductive carbonyl group. Meanwhile, radiation had slight influence on the crystalline structures of MCC. Therefore, the radiation degradation procedure is expected to benefit the further proceedings such as ultrafine treatment and enzyme hydrolysis of cellulose. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 127: 1630-1636, 2013