Isolation and Characterization of Nanofibrillated Cellulose from Sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum ) Bagasse via Wet Disk Milling Mechanical Treatment

Sugarcane bagasse fiber stands as a remarkable agro-waste plant, holding the key to unlocking its boundless potential as an abundant biomass source for an array of captivating biomaterial applications. In this study, the extraction of sugarcane bagasse nano-fibrillated cellulose (SCBNFC) involved two separate stages: delignification and mercerization to remove lignin and hemicellulose. Subsequently, the sugarcane bagasse cellulose fibers were subjected to further mechanical extraction using wet disc milling (WDM). In addition to TGA and XRD investigations, the materials were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and point of zero charge (PZC). Significantly, SCBNFC all the cycles showed a high yield of around 99.9%, emphasizing that the fibers were fully developed into nanofibers through fibrillation. However, X-ray diffraction analyses indicated a subtle reduction in the crystallinity of the SCBNFC, with it decreasing from 56% to 57%. The ionized SCBNFC has promising prospects in nanocomposites, biopackaging, filtration, adsorbents, and others, hence encouraging research to discover and further develop this renewable nanomaterial for future green nanotechnology.