Comparative study on material properties of wood-ash alkali and commercial alkali treated Sterculia fiber

Pulp, paper, and related industries consume large amount of commercial alkali to process raw fiber and/or recycle waste. A low-cost alternative to commercial alkali would be useful to reduce production and recycling costs and global alkali use. In this research, we extracted alkali from wood ash and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellulose (London) 2022-07, Vol.29 (10), p.5913-5922
Main Authors: Kandel, Krishna Prasad, Adhikari, Menuka, Kharel, Madhav, Aryal, Girja Mani, Pandeya, Shiva, Joshi, Mahesh Kumar, Dahal, Bipeen, Gautam, Bhoj, Neupane, Bhanu Bhakta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ashes
Bioorganic Chemistry
Caustic soda
Cellulose
Cellulose fibers
Ceramics
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Comparative studies
Composites
Glass
Lignin
Lignocellulose
Low cost
Material properties
Natural Materials
Organic Chemistry
Original Research
Physical Chemistry
Polymer Sciences
Sodium hydroxide
Surface stability
Sustainable Development
Thermal stability
Weight loss
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Summary:Pulp, paper, and related industries consume large amount of commercial alkali to process raw fiber and/or recycle waste. A low-cost alternative to commercial alkali would be useful to reduce production and recycling costs and global alkali use. In this research, we extracted alkali from wood ash and, as a proof of concept, used the alkali to process lignocellulose fiber obtained from Sterculia villosa (locally known as Murgilo or Mudilo), a traditionally important fibrous plant. Material properties of wood-ash alkali (WAA) treated fiber were compared with 5% sodium hydroxide treated fiber. The net weight loss on WAA and sodium hydroxide treatment was found to be 29.1 ± 2.6 and 41 ± 3.3%, respectively. In both methods, the weight loss resulted from the removal of hemicellulose and lignin consistent with reduction of fiber width and weakening of lignin and hemicellulose characteristic bands in FTIR spectra. Interestingly, both methods resulted in fiber having very similar mechanical strength. Cellulose crystallinity, fiber-surface morphology, and thermal stability of cellulose fiber obtained from two methods were systematically compared. These findings suggested that WAA treatment method could be a low-cost method for processing lignocellulose biomass. Graphical abstract
ISSN:0969-0239
1572-882X
DOI:10.1007/s10570-022-04610-w