CELLULOSE ACETATES FROM ALKALINE PEROXIDE PULP OF EFB

摘要

Renowned for its all-year abundance, the oil palm empty fruit bunch, EFB, was subjected to alkaline peroxide pulping, which integrates both pulping and bleaching into a single process with only meager extent of delignification. The pulp resulting fromthe rapid and simple pulping process was then purified to investigate the possibility of deriving cellulose acetate (CA). Despite lignin retention, APP (alkaline peroxide pulping) pulp from EFB was bright (65-70% ISO) and found to be of high purity uponsubjecting to totally chlorine-free bleaching (TCF) bleaching that begins with oxygen bleaching, followed by ozone bleaching and peroxide bleaching (OZP), sequentially. The obtained purity was comparable to that of other TCF bleached EFB pulp produced from chemical pulping techniques such as soda and sulfite pulping. The CA from APP of EFB exhibits above 2.5 degree of substitution, typical of the differential scanning calorie of 4 J/g to 92 J/g, which overlaps with the theoretical value for CA. Structural analysis by way of infra-red spectroscopy also claimed fruitfulness of CA production from APP of EFB and this draws a promise for sustainable CA production from an economically produced pulp originating from an industrial waste.