ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOCELLULOSE BASED ON PALM EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH

• Main Author: Rinji Astutik, Merry
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/49348
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Palm crop estate in Indonesia are increasing every year, so the crop yields are also increasing. In 2019, the amount of palm harvested reaches 50 million tonnes. Based on data from the Directorate General of Estate Crops, 25-26% of the total palm production is solid waste, namely palm empty fruit bunch. As much as 10% of the palm empty fruit bunch have been used and the residue has only become waste. The potential of palm empty fruit bunch as raw material for nanocellulose is quite large because of its high cellulose content, that is 42.7-65%. Isolation of cellulose begins with delignification of palm empty fruit bunch using 17.5% (w/v) NaOH at 90-95 °C for 3 hours. Then the bleaching process is carried out with 10% (w/v) H2O2 at 80-90 °C for 1.5 hours and neutralized with distilled water. The yield of cellulose produced was 40.7%. Then the cellulose is hydrolyzed with 25% (v/v) sulfuric acid at 50 °C for 90 minutes. The results of cellulose hydrolysis at optimum conditions were analyzed by PSA and FTIR. The average diameter size of the nanocellulose was 849.7 nm with a polydispersity index of 1.1. FTIR analysis showed no changes in the functional groups of cellulose after acid hydrolysis to nanocellulose. This shows that the acid hydrolysis of cellulose does not change the structure of cellulose but only changes the particle size of cellulose.