Open Access

ARTICLE

Cellulose Fibre from Schinus molle and Its Characterization

Abir Razzak^1,2, Faten Mannai¹, Ramzi Khiari^3,4,5, Younes Moussaoui^2,6, Mohamed N. Belgacem^5,*

1 Laboratory for the Application of Materials to the Environment, Water, and Energy (LR21ES15), Faculty of Sciences of Gafsa, University of Gafsa, Gafsa, 2112, Tunisia
2 Faculty of Sciences of Gafsa, University of Gafsa, Gafsa, 2112, Tunisia
3 Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Cleaner Process (LR21ES04), University of Monastir, Monastir, 5019, Tunisia
4 Higher Institute of Technological Studies (ISET) of Ksar-Hellal, Ksar-Hellal, 5070, Tunisia
5 University of Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LGP2, Grenoble, F-38000, France
6 Organic Chemistry Laboratory (LR17ES08), Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, 3029, Tunisia

* Corresponding Author: Mohamed N. Belgacem. Email: -inp.fr

Journal of Renewable Materials 2022, 10(10), 2593-2606. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2022.021706

Received 30 January 2022; Accepted 28 March 2022; Issue published 08 June 2022

Abstract

The exploitation of biomass represents a major environmental challenge related to the protection of the environment and the progressive exhaust of fossil resources. In this perspective, the main objective of this work is the extraction and the characterization of natural lignocellulosic fibers from the Schinus molle. The cellulose fibre extraction was investigated employing conditions of alkali treatment. After the alkaline steps, a bleaching treatment was done and let to a yield about 45% pure cellulose. The identification of the chemical composition of Schinus molle reveals that this raw material contains a high level of biopolymers with a cellulose rate of 53.2%. Extracted cellulose fibers have been characterized by several techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, Morfi, and by the determination of their degree of polymerization. FT-IR results confirm the purity of the cellulosic fibers, and XRD analysis reveals that the crystallinity increases after the delignification and bleaching treatments.

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Keywords

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