Isolation and characterization of cellulose from wastepaper and corn cob

The focus of this study is to isolate cellulose from both cellulosic materials obtained from wastepaper and corn cob by the isolation method and the dissolution of sample in the NaOH / thiourea / urea (NTU) solvent system. The cost effectiveness of the dissolution method was also investigated. The c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shahida Norikmal, Binti Samsudin
Format: Final Year Project Report / IMRAD
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8716/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8716/4/Shahida%28fulltext%29.pdf
Description
Summary:The focus of this study is to isolate cellulose from both cellulosic materials obtained from wastepaper and corn cob by the isolation method and the dissolution of sample in the NaOH / thiourea / urea (NTU) solvent system. The cost effectiveness of the dissolution method was also investigated. The cellulose obtained from wastepaper and corn cobs were characterized by FTIR spectrometer, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and the CHN Elemental Analyzer. The best method for cellulose isolation was the isolation method that involved reflux with 50 mL of 20% (v/v) mixture of nitric acid (HNO3) in ethanol for 7 hours with a cellulose yield of 52.9% and 78.6 % for corn cob and wastepaper, respectively.