Polyethersulfone-cellulose composite thin film incorporated with regenerated-cellulose extracted from empty fruit bunches of elaeis guineensis

Abstract Regenerated cellulose can be obtained from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), which is normally underutilized in Malaysia. In order to obtain high purity of regenerated cellulose, several stages are employed including pre-treatment with ethanol, delignification, pulping, bleaching and formic acid hydrolysis. Regenerated cellulose is then incorporated with polyethersulfone to produce thin-film composite by phase inversion method. The purpose of this study is to determine the content of alpha-cellulose from empty fruit bunches and fabricate polyethersulfone thin-film composite with improved thermal stability. Regenerated cellulose samples were then characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) and thermal gravimetric analyses (TGA). TAPPI method has been used to determine the content of alpha-cellulose extracted from the EFB. Morphology of regenerated cellulose obtained was cylindrically shaped and has compact fibrillary packing. FTIR analysis showed an absence of lignin and hemicellulose at 1611.59, 1238.45 and 1724.58 cm−1 regions. 91.90 ± 0.64% of alpha-cellulose was successfully obtained from the regenerated cellulose extracted from EFB. TGA data showed decomposition of EFB and regenerated cellulose between 30 and 730 °C. However, the composite thin film produced using regenerated cellulose exhibited slightly higher thermal stability.