Agricultural Residues as Alternative Feedstocks for Nanocrystalline Cellulose (NCC): Comparative Analysis of Empty Fruit Bunch Oil Palm, Bagasse, and Pineapple Crowns

Muhammad Muhammad, Eka Marya Mistar, Khairul Rahmah, Edi Munawar, Fitriani Fitriani

Abstract

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) was successfully isolated from three tropical agricultural residues oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), sugarcane bagasse (SB), and pineapple crown leaves (PCL) via acid hydrolysis. The influence of feedstock lignocellulosic composition on NCC yield, crystallinity, thermal stability, surface chemistry, and morphology was systematically evaluated using gravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PCL, which exhibited the highest cellulose content (60.49%) and the lowest lignin fraction (15.24%) among the three feedstocks, yielded the highest NCC recovery (70.37 ± 1.10%), the greatest crystallinity index (CrI = 73.57%), the highest thermal decomposition onset temperature (291 °C), and a rod-like morphology closely approaching that of commercial NCC. In contrast, SB and EFB produced substantially lower NCC yields (33.23 ± 1.86% and 36.17 ± 0.91%, respectively), reduced crystallinity (70.25% and 68.31%), lower thermal stability onset temperatures (285 °C and 280 °C), and more heterogeneous particle morphologies, attributable to their elevated lignin and hemicellulose burdens that impede reagent penetration during pretreatment and hydrolysis. FTIR analysis confirmed the effective removal of non-cellulosic components across all samples. These findings establish a feedstock compositional hierarchy (PCL > SB > EFB) governing NCC.

Keywords

cellulose; crystal size; crystallinity; functional group; morphology; yield.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/alchemy.22.2.109364.349-361

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