Environmental friendly method for the extraction of coir fibre and isolation of nanofibre

• Published in: Carbohydrate polymers Vol. 92; no. 2; pp. 1477 - 1483
• Main Authors: Abraham, Eldho, Deepa, B., Pothen, L.A., Cintil, J., Thomas, S., John, M.J., Anandjiwala, R., Narine, S.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 15.02.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; cellulose; Cellulose nanofibre; Chemical Fractionation - methods; coconuts; coir; Coir fibre; Exact sciences and technology; Extraction; Fibers and threads; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Green Chemistry Technology - methods; hemicellulose; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; light scattering; lignin; Lignin - analogs & derivatives; Lignin - chemistry; Lignin - isolation & purification; nanofibers; Nanofibers - chemistry; Polymer industry, paints, wood; pretreatment; processing stages; retting; steam; Steam explosion; Technology of polymers; thermal stability; Use of agricultural and forest wastes. Biomass use, bioconversion; X-ray diffraction; Cellulose nanofibre; Extraction; Steam explosion; Coir fibre; Cellulose; Plant fiber; Coconut fiber; Nanofiber; Chemical pretreatment; Delignification; Chemical base; Experimental study; Dimension spectrum; Thermal stability; Hydrolysis; Bleaching; Morphology; Physical separation; Electrokinetic potential
• ISSN: 0144-8617; 1879-1344
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2012.10.056

[Display omitted] ► An environmental friendly method for the extraction of coir fibre. ► Enhancing the effective utilization of coir fibre and to avoid its retting process. ► Reveals the presence of lignin–cellulose complex in the raw coir fibre. ► Successfully isolated a homogenous dispersion of nanocellulose fibrils. The objective of this work was to develop an environmental friendly method for the effective utilization of coir fibre by adopting steam pre-treatment. The retting of the coconut bunch makes strong environmental problems which can be avoided by this method. Chemical characterization of the fibre during each processing stages confirmed the increase of cellulose content from raw (40%) to final steam treated fibres (93%). Morphological and dynamic light scattering analyses of the fibres at different processing stages revealed that the isolation of cellulose nano fibres occur in the final step of the process as an aqueous suspension. FT-IR and XRD analysis demonstrated that the treatments lead to the gradual removal of lignin and hemicelluloses from the fibres. The existence of strong lignin–cellulose complex in the raw coir fibre is proved by its enhanced thermal stability. Steam explosion has been proved to be a green method to expand the application areas of coir fibre.