Sugarcane bagasse conversion to high refined cellulose using nitric acid,sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide as the delignificating agents

As a renewable material,sugarcane-bagasse fiber waste,has a huge potential as raw material for production of the high refined cellulose (hrc) and the cellulose chemicals derivatives such as carboxyl methyl cellulose-emulsifier,cellulose-acetate addesive,nitrocellulose coating agent,and nitrocellulose membrane filter. the objective of the study is to find out the optimal process conditions of the chemical conversion of the sugarcane-bagasse fibre waste to the hrc. the experiments were carried out in a 1000 ml reactor capacity,equipped with stirrer and temperature controller. three-steps atmospheric processes were involved,firstly using nitric acid solution at 80oc for 2 hours,following by the second step using sodium hydroxide at 80oc for 2 hours and finishing using hydrogen peroxide at 80oc,30-300 min in the third step. the hrc quality was indicated by its cellulose content. the result shows that the hrc product with cellulose content of higher than 90% were succesfully performed using a three-steps of the sugarcane-bagasse fiber delignification process. the optimal process condition of the sugarcane-bagasse fiber conversion to the hrc were achieved at 80oc at atmospheric pressure with a combinations of the 3-5% hno3 with ratio of hno3 /bagasse of 15-20 ml/g and 2n naoh with ratio of naoh/bagasse of 15-20 ml/g and 10% h2o2 for 5 hours. © school of engineering,taylor’s university.