PUSHPA RANI, DEEPAK KUMAR YADAV, ARTI YADAV, SUBHASH CHANDER AND NARSI RAM BISHNOI*
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology,
Hisar-125 001 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail: nrbishnoi@gmail.com; Mobile : 93543 12123)
(Received: January 9, 2022; Accepted: February 13, 2023)
ABSTRACT
Through pre-treatment and chemical up-gradation, the three primary lignocellulosic components can be converted into a wide variety of biomass-derived platform fuels, chemicals and materials. In this work,
wheat straw was pre-treated using different sodium hydroxide concentrations (1-5%) at 121°C and 15 psi in an autoclave for 60 min. The study revealed that maximum cellulose and delignification were obtained at 2% sodium hydroxide. The content of cellulose (68.39%), delignification (4.62%) and hemicellulose (16.38% ) were recorded after alkali pre-treatment of wheat straw biomass. SEM, XRD and FTIR spectroscopy analysis further demonstrated that the alkaline processing of biomass altered its structural and morphological characteristics. The XRD result of the straw powder sample revealed that the crystallinity index improved from 36.80 to 50.64%, indicating higher cellulose content. SEM study indicated the disorderly surface and porosity of pre-treated wheat straw fibers, thus improving cellulose accessibility for cellulose. FTIR showed that some of the peaks missed and others shifted in position due to alkaline pre-treatment, which confirmed the increase in the cellulose content and delignification.
Key words : Wheat straw, alkaline pre-treatment, SEM, XRD, FTIR