Hydrothermal Extraction of Cellulose from Sugarcane Bagasse For Production of Biodegradable Food Containers

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB), an organic waste generated in the production of sugar and ethanol, is considered a potential biomass source with its high cellulose content. In this study, SCB was extracted for cellulose using a hydrothermal method with various types of solvents, and then the extracted materials were applied for the food container production. An alkali solvent i.e. sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and non-toxic acids i.e. citric acid and formic acid were included as extractive solvents with two different concentrations (0.25 M and 2.0 M). It was found that the hydrothermal extractions with the alkali has higher cellulose extraction abilities (67.774.0%) than those with the acids (52.557.3%). Using low concentration of alkali with the hydrothermal extraction (H-NaOH_low) had the cellulose extraction ability near to that using high concentration of alkali with the conventional boiling method (B-NaOH_high), 67.7% and 70.5% respectively. Moreover, the extracted cellulose of H-NaOH_low had better mechanical properties than that of B-NaOH_high, reasoned from having lower defective fibers. The high concentration of alkali leads to vigorous reactions and damages the cellulose fibers. Thus, the hydrothermal extraction has a benefit of using less chemicals and then lower environmental impact. In addition, H-NaOH_low fiber was employed for the food container production, and found that the obtained product has the excellent properties comparable with the commercial ones.