Structure and Properties of Natural Cellulose Extracted from Pineapple Leaf

Utilization of agriculture waste has been an issue around the world. In this study, the natural cellulose was extracted from pineapple leaf. Under the optimal pretreatment conditions of 25 g/L, 368 K and 6 h, the ratio of obtained cellulose was above 85 wt%. The structure of obtained cellulose at different stage was confirmed by XRD results. Origin cellulose (OC) and pretreated cellulose (PC) belong to be cellulose I, while regenerated cellulose possessed cellulose II structure, attributed to the dissolution of ionic liquid which destroyed the hydrogen bonds between the cellulose molecules. On the other hand, the structure could be explained by the morphology analysis of OC, PC and RC. The porous network structure of RC led to the reduction of ordered crystalline region and the decrease of crystallinity (CrI), which was proved by BET results. However, the dissolution was testified to be a physical process through FTIR analysis, the existence of characteristic absorption peaks of cellulose. The thermal stability was decreased through pretreatment, dissolution processes, corresponding to the decrease of CrI. The disordered amorphous region of RC decides convenient for production and broad applications.