Extraction and Characterization of Nanocellulose from Sources of Residual Biomass

The nanocellulose obtained from biomass of agroindustrial wastes: sugarcane bagasse (SCB), banana pseudostem (BPS) and aloe vera bagasse (AVB), allows to reduce the large amount of waste and the environmental impact generated during the industrialization processes of these raw materials, their lignocellulosic characteristics make these wastes attractive for the extraction of nanocellulose with novel chemical characteristics on a nanometric scale that allows its properties to be improved and used in specific fields such as biomedicine. The extraction and characterization of nanocellulose with acid hydrolysis at 45, 55 and 65 %v/v H2SO4, at different time spans (30 and 60 minutes) and different temperatures (25, 40, 45 and 50 °C). The raw materials and the obtained cellulose and nanocellulose were characterized by: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), to identify the characteristic functional groups; X-ray diffraction (XRD), to study the crystalline structure; dynamic light scattering (DLS), to determine hydrodynamic radius of the nanocellulose particles; and, finally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to analyze the morphological features of the cellulose and nanocellulose. The FTIR spectra revealed the elimination of absorption bands characteristic of lignin and hemicellulose. From XRD results, the presence of the different polymorphs of cellulose I alpha, I beta and II was identified. From dynamic light scattering, the hydrodynamic radius of the cellulose obtained from each agroindustrial wastes biomass was determined, with values less than 110 nm. After the obtained results in this study, it can conclude that nanocellulose from biomass of agroindustrial wastes: sugarcane bagasse (SCB), banana pseudostem (BPS) and aloe vera bagasse (AVB), can be regarded as a greener and sustainable industrial waste for the preparation of cellulose nanofibers.