Preparation and characterization of bleaching cellulose from orange bagasse

Orange bagasse is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and pectin. The objective was the extraction of bleached cellulose from orange bagasse through chemical treatments. The fibers were dried at 60 ° C for 48h, then treated using two different chemical treatments: acetosolv with 93% (wt%) acetic acid and 0.3% (wt%) hydrochloric acid at 110 ° C followed by bleaching steps after bleaching was done using a 4% NaOH (w /v) solution and 30% (v/v) H₂O₂. The fibers were named natura fiber (FN), acetosolv pulp (PA), first bleaching (F1B), second bleaching (F2B) and bleaching with a 4%(m/v) KOH solution (F2B/KOH). The materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetry. The results showed that the bleached cellulose shown a maximum degradation temperature of 350°C, with 67.4% crystallinity, showing morphological changes in the fibers after the chemical treatments. (author)