A Morphological Study of Microfibrillated Cellulose Prepared from Waste Cotton Linter

In this work microfibrillated Cellulose (MFC) was prepared from cotton linter which was collected from a textile mills in Pabna, Bangladesh. MFC was characterized by WAXD, FTIR, SEM and OM measurements. MFC was synthesized by several steps such as alkali treatment, followed by NaClO2 bleaching and acid hydrolysis. The acid hydrolysis was conducted by two different sulphuric acid (H2SO4) concentrations (3N and 5N). The oxidation reaction took place during the MFC preparation by using 5N of acid which was detected by FTIR spectra. The crystallinity index of MFCs were measured from the peaks at (2θ angles) 14.6 and 22.60 of WAXD curves. The WAXD curves show enrichment in the proportion of crystalline cellulose in MFCs, which manifests significant conversion of cellulose-I to cellulose-II. A significant change in morphology of MFC was clearly observed at SEM and OM images due to chemical treatment of cotton linter.