Extraction and Characterization of Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) From Sri Lankan Agricultural Waste

In this research synthesis and characterization of cellulose and nano cellulose and process run under several conditions to obtain parameters which are belongs to optimizing. Cellulose was extracted from BG 352 rice straw using de-waxing, delignification, hemicellulose and silica removal treatment. Extracted cellulose was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic techniques (FTIR). SEM image showed that isolated cellulose fibers with diameter ranging from 2- 8 μ m and yield of extracted cellulose are around 21%. Nanocellulose is the material at least one dimension in the nano meter range. The cellulose contains some amorphous regions as well as crystalline regions and by treating some strong acid such as sulfuric to broken up the cellulose from amorphous region. The resultant product is nanocellulose. Nano crystalline cellulose can be obtained from plant matter which comprises nano sized cellulose material. Nano crystalline cellulose synthesis was followed using cellulose by acid hydrolysis, quenching, centrifugation, dialysis, sonication, freeze drying process in this research. So locally available rice straw is a source to synthesize the nano crystalline cellulose.