This research aimed to fractionate cellulose and lignin from sugarcane bagasse (SCB) using the alkaline and acid chemical process. Sulphuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) and Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) were selected as the pretreatment chemical solvents. After pretreatment, the cellulose content and lignin were 98.5% and 79.2%, respectively. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, 1 H and 13 C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were employed to analyse the material. Raw SCB shows the vibration absorption peaks of O-H and C-H stretching at 338.23 and 2897.37 cm -1 , which are correlated with cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin molecules. The vibration of O-H and C-H functional groups was observed on extracted cellulose and lignin biopolymers. However, the intensity of vibration peaks decreased, especially for lignin biopolymer. The absorption band observed at 1603.74 and 1541 cm -1 was attributed to the aromatic (C=O, C=C) structure. 1 H and 13 C NMR spectra detected the presence of both the aromatic regions and the sidechain regions on raw SCB and SCB-lignin. However, only the sidechain regions were detected on SCB-cellulose. SEM analysis reveals that the surfaces of raw SCB, SCB-cellulose, and SCB-lignin exhibit smooth, irregular, and uneven shapes, respectively. The results show that cellulose and lignin were simultaneously recovered from SCB.
Manyatshe et al. (Thu,) studied this question.