Vol. 12, Issue 3 (2023)

Author(s):
Anamika Thakur and Abhijit Kar

Abstract:
This work was done to extract cellulose from a sustainable source, i.e. rice husk, which is an agro-waste of rice industries. Chlorine free pretreatments were done on powdered rice husk for removing non-cellulosic components like silica, lignin and hemicellulose. Alkali treatment (5% NaOH) followed by bleaching with hydrogen peroxide was done. Finally, acidic treatment with nitric acid followed by steam explosion was done to obtain nanocellulose. Nanocellulose yield was calculated. Cellulose content was also found out by Anthrone method. It varied from 1550.9 to 2730.3mg/g in raw and bleached rice husk, respectively. Nanocellulose yield was approximately 65-70%. This study was basically done to utilize huge amounts of industrial waste in the form of rice husk. Moreover, the extracted cellulose can be used for various food based applications such as an edible coating, as a thickener/emulsifier, as an anti-caking agent, as a fibre supplement, as a calorie reducer.