Recycling Waste Cotton Cloths for the Isolation of Cellulose Nanocrystals: A Sustainable Approach

Polymers

Venugopal Balakrishnan¹  Muzafar Zulkifli²  AhmadNaim Ahmad Yahaya²  FatehahMohd Omar³  SitiHajar Mohamed⁴  Md.Sohrab Hossain⁴  MohamadHaafizMohamad Kassim⁴  MardianaIdayu Ahmad⁴ 

[1] Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia;Malaysian Institute of Chemical & Bioengineering Technology (UniKL-MICET), Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Melaka 78000, Malaysia;School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 14300, Malaysia;School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia;

关键词: waste cotton cloths;    cellulose nanocrystals;    solid waste management;    sustainability;    supercritical CO₂;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym13040626

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

There is an interest in the sustainable utilization of waste cotton cloths because of their enormous volume of generation and high cellulose content. Waste cotton cloths generated are disposed of in a landfill, which causes environmental pollution and leads to the waste of useful resources. In the present study, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were isolated from waste cotton cloths collected from a landfill. The waste cotton cloths collected from the landfill were sterilized and cleaned using supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂) technology. The cellulose was extracted from scCO₂-treated waste cotton cloths using alkaline pulping and bleaching processes. Subsequently, the CNCs were isolated using the H₂SO₄ hydrolysis of cellulose. The isolated CNCs were analyzed to determine the morphological, chemical, thermal, and physical properties with various analytical methods, including attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EF-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that the isolated CNCs had a needle-like structure with a length and diameter of 10-30 and 2-6 nm, respectively, and an aspect ratio of 5–15, respectively. Additionally, the isolated CNCs had a high crystallinity index with a good thermal stability. The findings of the present study revealed the potential of recycling waste cotton cloths to produce a value-added product.

【 授权许可】

Unknown