Isolation of highly purity cellulose from wheat straw using a modified aqueous biphasic system

doi:10.1007/s11705-012-0901-5

Front Chem Sci Eng

2012, Vol. 6

Issue (3) : 282-291 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-012-0901-5

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Isolation of highly purity cellulose from wheat straw using a modified aqueous biphasic system

Lifeng YAN(

), Yi ZHAO, Qing GU, Wan LI

Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

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Abstract

Cellulose samples with molecular weights ranging from 8.39 × 10⁴ to 11.00 × 10⁴ g/mol were obtained from wheat straw. The dewaxed wheat straw was pretreated with aqueous hydrochloric acid followed by delignification using an environmentally benign poly(ethyleneglycol)/salt aqueous biphasic system. The yield of cellulose was in the range of 48.9%–55.5% and the cellulose contained 1.2%–3.2% hemicelluloses, and 0.97%–3.47% lignin. All the isolated cellulose samples could be directly dissolved in a 6 wt-% NaOH/4 wt-% urea aqueous solution through a precooling-thawing process to form a homogenous solution. The separation process was investigated and the obtained cellulose and its solution were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray apparatus, and X-ray diffraction. The results revealed that aqueous soluble cellulose can be directly prepared from wheat straw by this method and this study opens a novel pathway to prepare cellulosic materials from agricultural waste.

Keywords cellulose straw separation aqueous solution

Corresponding Author(s): YAN Lifeng,Email:lfyan@ustc.edu.cn

Issue Date: 05 September 2012

Cite this article:

Yi ZHAO,Qing GU,Wan LI, et al. Isolation of highly purity cellulose from wheat straw using a modified aqueous biphasic system[J]. Front Chem Sci Eng, 2012, 6(3): 282-291.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-012-0901-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2012/V6/I3/282

Fig.1

Fig.2 Photos of the NaOH/urea aqueous cellulose solutions of A at different concentrations. (a) 8.3 × 10 g/mL; (b, c) 2.09 × 10 g/mL; (d) 3.5 × 10 g/mL; (e) 2.1 × 10 g/mL; (f) after adding 1.0 mL HCl (1.0 wt-%) aqueous solution into the solution as shown in (e)

Fig.3 Dependence of [] on the concentration of cellulose for sample A in NaOH/urea aqueous solution at 25°C

Tab.1 The intrinsic viscosity ([]), Huggins constant ('), viscosity-average molecular weight () and the yield of the eight cellulose samples

Fig.4 UV-Vis absorption spectra of acidic KMnO aqueous solution. (1) before and after reaction with cellulose samples; (2) A; (3) A; (4) A; (5) A; (6) A; (7) untreated wheat straw

Tab.2 The kappa number and the lignin content (%) of cellulose samples and untreated wheat straw

Fig.5 The linear relationship between the concentration of HCl and the relative lignin content of cellulose samples A, B, C and D

Tab.3 The neutral sugar composition (%) of the eight cellulose samples

Fig.6 FT-IR spectra of (1) untreated wheat straw, (2) residue A after treatment with 8 mol·L aqueous HCl at 55°C for 3 h, (3) cellulose sample A, (4) regenerated cellulose and (5) microcrystalline cellulose

Fig.7 XRD patterns of (1) cellulose sample A, (2) microcrystalline cellulose and (3) regenerated cellulose

Fig.8 SEM image of (a) untreated wheat straw powder, (b) residue A and (c) a typical cellulose microfiber of cellulose sample A

Fig.9 POM image of (a) the cellulose solution of sample A in NaOH/urea aqueous solution and (b) SEM image of the cellulose aggregates formed by depositing the cellulose solution onto freshly cleaved mica

Fig.10 SEM image of the cellulose regenerated from its NaOH/urea aqueous solution by adding dilute HCl aqueous solution

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