Determination of Lignocellulosic Compounds Obtained From Pepper (Capsicum Annuum)

Cellulose is the most abundant renewable biopolymer on the earth# in recent years, the demand for biodgradable and biocompatible polymer materials has been grown extensively# although pure cellulose is biocompatible but the majority of pulps used in paper industries are obtained by chemical pulping processes# the chemical pulping process affect the biocompatibility of the cellulose fibers# thus, obtaining biocompatible cellulose from other renewable resources is the interest of many researchers# in this study, we assumed that pepper can contain remarkable amounts of lignocellulosic compounds# in this regard, the pepper flour was used for determining the amount of lignocellulosic compounds according to tappi standard methods# the morphological observation of pepper powder showed parenchyma cells containing nutritions# the composition of the lignocellulosic compounds was determined by soxhlet extraction using different solvents# the result of this study showed that pepper contains 31% holocellulose, 62% cellulose and 18% lignin, %14 extractives and 6% ash# the amount of cellulose and holocellulose of the pepper is comparable with that of birch kraft pulp# according to these results, it can be concluded that pepper can be a suitable renewable resource for obtaining biocompatible cellulose#