Optimization of parameters for biological pre-treatment route for the production of nanocellulose from sugarcane bagasse

Nanocellulose production from biomass has generated a lot of interest as biomass residues are cheaper, renewable and abundantly available. Biomass residues such as sugarcane bagasse also face severe disposal challenges and it is therefore imperative to convert them to value-added products. To obtain nanocellulose from biomass, a pre-treatment step is generally employed to remove lignin. In the current study, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, a fungal strain, was used to remove the lignin. The effect of using fungal treatment was studied on bagasse of varying size, and varying incubation days. Also, the effect of mild chemical pre-treatment prior to fungal treatment was studied. FTIR was used to study structural differences in bagasse residues. Klason’s lignin test and cellulose test were done to estimate the cellulose and lignin content. Thermal properties were found using TGA. Optical microscopy was used to find out size reduction. DLS was performed to obtain and confirm nanocellulose dimensions. Optimization was done on the basis of cellulose and lignin content, size reduction and thermal properties. It was found that the fungal treatment was more effective on large particles with prior mild chemical treatment. Furthermore, the average particle size of nanocellulose obtained from optimized process was found to be 401 nm and the final yield was ~34%.Graphical abstract