Esterification of cellulose from sugarcane bagasse by some long- chain acid chlorides

Abstract

In recent years there is a growing urgency to develop renewable biodegradable materials for various applications, and to replace petroleum-based materials. This study aimed to extract cellulose as raw material from Sudanese sugarcane bagasse (SCB) to prepare cellulose esters. The (SCB) sample was collected, grounded, dewaxed, delignified and purified. The pure cellulose was solubilized using N,N-Dimethylacetamide / Lithium Chloride (DMA/LiCl) solvent system at 160 °C. Cellulose esters were prepared by the reaction of solubilized cellulose with long chain acid chlorides namely myristoyl (C14), palmitoyl (C16) and oleoyl (C18) which is unsaturated, in the presence of triethylamine for proton capture at optimum reaction condition. The produced cellulose esters were characterized using different instruments and methods. Elemental analysis was carried out to confirm the degree of substitution (DS), the results shows that the DS value increases as the chain length increases. Fourier transfer Infra-Red spectroscopy (FT-IR) provide evidence of acylation by the presence of ester carbonyl groups and decrease of the band of the hydroxyl group. Thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA) was used to study the thermal stability of prepared cellulose esters which showed that the prepared esters have different thermal stability depending on DS value and chain length at the substitution position. The results show significant changes occur in the structure and thermal stability of cellulose by esterification and the produced esters can be more useful than pure unmodified cellulose.