Assessment of cellulose purification methods from the residue of enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse for the production of cellulose nanocrystals

Full text: Over the years, there is a growing trend in the reuse of residues from the agricultural industries due to social, environmental and economic demands. The production of Brazilian sugarcane in the 2014/15 season was more than 640 million tons, estimating that one third of this total is bagasse [1]. After enzymatic hydrolysis of bagasse in order to give the 2G ethanol, remains a solid fibrous residue which can be repurposed in other processes. This study evaluated four methods for the purification of the resulting solid fibrous residue from the enzymatic hydrolysis process of bagasse, with the intention of obtaining cellulose. Measurements of the crystallinity index (CI) of the cellulose contained in the samples were determined using X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The enzymatic hydrolysis of generates a fibrous solid residue with contents of lignin and cellulose. This residue was subjected to four purification methods: I) 100 mL of NaOH (5%, w/w) at 55 °C was added to 5 g of residue and 43 mL of H₂O₂ (35%, v/v) under stirring for 1.5 hours; II) the same procedure was repeated on the resulting material from I; III) 105 mL of solution 10:1 (ν/ν) of CH₃COOH and HNO₃ at 60 °C was added to 5 g of residue under stirring for 30 minutes; IV) reaction with a solution composed of 1 ml of CH₃COOH and 2.5 g of NaClO₂ at 70 °C under stirring for 1 hour and after that time, the procedure was repeated twice and then the solution was kept under stirring for further 3 hours. The crystallinity indexes found for the purification procedures were: I) 81.7%; II) 83.2%; III) 52.1% e IV) 77.2%. The best result was found for the material subjected to the method II. This process (II) generated a material composed of high content of crystalline cellulose. References: [1] CONAB (National Supply Company), 2015. (author)