Abstract :

The aim was to investigate the use of oil palm petiole fiber (OPPF) as a source for producing nanocrystalline cellulose. OPPF was treated with alkali (NaOH) first, and bleached before the production of nanocellulose by acid hydrolysis (H2SO4). The materials obtained after each stage of treatments were characterized and their chemical compositions were determined. The produced materials were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The morphological analysis of nanocellulose displayed clear needle like structure. The extracted cellulose has smaller diameter (8 – 10 ?m) and smooth surface than the raw fibers. FT-IR results show that the hemicelluloses and lignin were entirely removed from the isolated cellulose. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analysis showed peak at 1640cm-1. This indicates that the carbonyl stretching in the acetyl groups of hemicelluloses or the ester carbonyl groups in the lignin were all removed. The results from all analysis show that OPPF is a promising good raw material that can produce of nanocrystalline cellulose.