Isolation of nanocellulose from waste sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and its characterization

Nanocellulose obtained by acid hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) has been characterized by Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectra, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. Nanocellulose and cellulose exhibited identical FTIR spectra quite different from SCB. TG analysis shows that the bagasse starts to degrade earlier than cellulose and the nanocellulose shows an even earlier onset of degradation compared to SCB but leaves the maximum residue within the range of temperatures studied. DSC studies revealed that SCB, cellulose and the nanocellulose differ in their loosely bound moisture content. The nanocellulose exhibits an intermediate behavior between SCB and cellulose. The XRD shows enrichment in the proportion of crystalline cellulose in nanocellulose, which manifests significant conversion of cellulose I to cellulose II. DLS studies show particle size distribution in the nanorange which has been substantiated by SEM, AFM and TEM.