Synthesis and Characterization of Carboxymethyl Cellulose Derived from Empty Fruit Bunch

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), a cellulose rich lignocellulosic biomass has huge potential to be utilised as a raw material for the synthesis of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). In this study, CMC was synthesised from EFB extracted cellulose at the optimum carboxymethylation reaction conditions. The extracted cellulose yield obtained by alkaline treatment followed by bleaching with hydrogen peroxide was 45.5 wt.%. The cellulose structure was elucidated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Meanwhile, the synthesised CMC was characterised with FT-IR, XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The maximum degree of substitution (DS) obtained was 1.30 with the yield of 177.51 wt.% and purity 89% determined using chemical methods at the optimum conditions of 30 wt.% of NaOH, 18 g of SMCA, 65 °C, 3 h reaction time and less than 75 μm of EFB-cellulose particle size. XRD analysis inferred low crystallinity while FTIR spectra verified the CMC structure and presence of different functional groups. The results for DS and EFB CMC yield obtained from this work were considerably higher than those reported in the literature. The synthesised EFB CMC can be further utilised in various industries such as detergent, mining, flotation, and oil and gas drilling muds applications.