Characterization of cellulose from banana pseudo-stem by heterogeneous liquefaction

A cellulose extraction from banana pseudo-stem through the combination of bleach and liquefaction processes was described: holocellulose was isolated by the sodium chlorite method, and then the cellulose was obtained by removing the hemicellulose through chemical liquefaction. The chemical composition, morphology, thermal properties and degree of crystallinity of the celluloses were characterized to discuss their suitability for new bio-based composite materials. It was shown that hemicellulose can be selectively liquefied to get cellulose. The hemicellulose content in cellulose is decreased from 45.69% to 8.38%. Surface morphological studies revealed that there is a reduction in fiber diameter and fiber bundles are divided into individual fibrils, which lead to an increase of the surface area and results in an increased adhesion at the fiber-matrix interface in composites. Thermal analysis results show that the cellulose exhibit enhanced thermal stability over holocellulose. XRD results indicate that the crystallinity is increased from 52.22% to 81.26% by liquefaction.