Effect of Particle Size Distribution of Rice Straw on Cellulose Extraction

Cellulose has become a wonder material in the present context of research and development since it is fibrous and tough, hence biodegradable, biocompatible, and renewable natural polymer which can be employed in various industrial applications. Nowadays, rice straw as a cellulose source has gained momentum as rice is one of the major crops grown in most of the tropical and subtropical countries of the world with half of the world population consuming it as the major food source. Chemical extraction and purification method is found to be the most efficient method for cellulose extraction from lignocellulosic biomass. Therefore, it is of paramount important to investigate the influence of parent materials on the synthesis process and the properties of the yield. In this research, effect of particle size distribution of locally available rice straw on cellulose synthesis was studied. Study revealed that after the series of chemical treatments M-75 yielded 27.19 ± 0.98 percent, M-250 yielded 38.31 ± 0.86 percent and M-H yielded 33.68 ± 0.68 percent cellulose. FTIR analysis revealed the sequential and complete removal of lignin (1516 cm
^-1
, aromatic skeletal vibrations), hemicellulose (1729 cm
^-1
, carbonyl stretching) and silica (796 cm
^-1
, Si-O-Si stretching) thus, confirms the final product as cellulose. SEM images showed that M-75 exhibited whisker like structure whereas M-250 showed fibrillar network structure. These findings will have profound influence upon extracting cellulose from agricultural biomass.