Preliminary Study on the Effect of Bleaching Treatment on Cellulose Extracts from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch

Abstract:

Oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre (OPEFB) is a waste from palm oil mill. It is rich in useful compound residues such as cellulose and carboxymethylcellulose. The increasing interest in OPEFB as a source of cellulose is due to its low cost, renewable and abundantly available, particularly in the Southeast Asia region. Cellulose extraction is affected by pre-treatment, especially during the bleaching process. Thus, this study aims to analyse the effect of bleaching period and treatment using NaClO₂ on cellulose recovery from OPEFB. Batch process of bleaching was carried out in the ratio of 1:50 of fibres to sodium chlorite (NaClO₂) solution of 0.7%. This was followed by analysis of cellulose morphological using FTIR and SEM analysis. The study found that bleaching duration affects cellulose recovery, with the highest yield of 54% found to be at 3 hours of bleaching duration. The bleaching duration was increased up to 6 hours, but found to yield less cellulose, which indicated that certain duration is suitable to provide a condition for higher cellulose yield.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 937)
• Pages: 149-156
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-tlk48m
• Online since: December 2022
• Authors: Emma Suali*, Ouvva Ndy Dominic, Latifah Suali, S.M. Anisuzzaman
• Keywords: Bleaching, Cellulose, Extraction, FTIR, Palm Oil Empty Fruit Bunch, SEM

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