Screening of deep eutectic solvent mixtures for treating empty fruit bunches to obtain cellulose nanofiber

• Main Authors: Jafri, Nur Huda Syazwani, Jimat, Dzun Noraini, Wan Nawawi, Wan Mohd Fazli, Ahmad Nor, Yusilawati, Amid, Azura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology; TP200 Manufacture and use of chemicals
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/104858/1/Screening%20of%20deep%20eutectic%20solvent%20mixtures%20for%20treating%20empty%20fruit%20bunches%20to%20obtain%20cellulose%20nanofiber.docx; http://irep.iium.edu.my/104858/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214785323024677
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are attractive reinforcing materials for advanced nanocomposites due to their uniqueness characteristics. The study aims to extract CNFs from empty fruit bunches (EFB) using different deep eutectic solvent (DES) mixtures to determine which DES mixture produces the highest CNFs yield. Various DES mixtures, e.g. (i) choline chloride-oxalic acid dehydrates (ChCl-OAD); (ii) choline chloride-malic acid (ChCl-MA); (iii) choline chloride-citric acid (ChCl-CA); and (iv) choline chloride-acetic acid (ChCl-AA) was used as extraction solvent for CNFs. ChCl-OAD is the most effective DES mixture, producing the highest CNFs at 45.6%. The produced CNFs were nanosized, with an average diameter of 27.8 nm and degree of crystallinity of 66.7%. This research may act as foundation for the large-scale, high-yield production of nanocellulose using DES.