Title
Optimization of purified cellulose extraction from corn cob and characterization of the isolated product
Authors
YEE SHUI NG, ZHONG XIAN OOI, YI PENG TEOH, MEI LEE OOI and PENG YONG HOO,

Received February 2, 2024
Published Volume 58 Issue 5-6 May-June
Keywords cellulose, corn cob, microwave-assisted, isolation, optimization

Abstract
This study reported the isolation of cellulose from corn cob by using microwave-assisted alkaline treatment and bleaching. The Central Composite Design (CCD) approach of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to study the effect of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentrations (1.5-2.5M), duration of alkaline treatment (4-8 min), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations (7-9 wt%) and bleaching time (3-7 min) on the removal percent of non cellulosic components and impurities from corn cob. The optimized conditions obtained from this study were 2.37M NaOH, 9 wt% H2O2, alkaline treatment time of 4 min, and bleaching time – 4.20 min. The non-cellulosic part and the impurities removed under the optimized conditions in microwave-assisted alkaline treatment and bleaching amounted to 72.26 ± 0.15%. The cellulose content in the thus purified corn cob material was determined as 92.47%. The isolated corn cob cellulose was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These characterizations confirmed that the alkaline treatment and microwave-assisted bleaching under the optimized conditions achieved the optimal removal percent of the non-cellulosic components and impurities from the corn cob biomass to achieve highly purified cellulose.