Production of Cellulose Nanowhisker from bamboo and Evaluation of Its Properties

The production of cellulose nanowhisker from renewable sources, due to its unique mechanical properties (high strength and specific modulus), high specific surface area, environmental benefits and low production costs, has been recently on great attention. Thus,the production of cellulose nanowhisker from bamboo has been evaluated in the present study. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the possibility of the production of nanowhisker from cellulose of bamboo and, also to study its morphological and structural properties as well as to determine the optimum acid hydrolysis condition for the production of cellulose nanowhisker. The soda-AQ pulp of bamboo was used to produce of alpha-cellulose. After one stage bleaching using sodium chlorite, acidic hydrolysis of alpha cellulose using 64% sulfuric acid has been done under the following condition: acid/cellulose ratio = 8/1, time: 25, 35 and 45 minutes, temp.= 40, 45 and 50 °C. The properties of the obtained cellulose nanowhiskers were investigated using atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Results showed that the yield of alpha cellulose was 73/22%. The results of acidic hydrolysis showed that the run done at 45°C and 45 min. was the optimum one, which could produce cellulose nanowhisker with 84% crystallinity, 12.25% yield and 7-12 nm diameter.