| dc.description.abstract | Water hyacinth is among the world's top 10 invasive weeds due to its adaptability and high growth rate. Its high cellulose content makes water hyacinth a potential source of cellulose nanofiber (CNF) for alternative commercial polymers that are difficult to degrade by nature. CNF isolation that only involves chemical treatment in purifying cellulose generally uses chemicals that are less environmentally friendly. In this study, steam explosion pretreatment was used to optimize the chemical treatment in cellulose purification and ultrasonication defibrillation in CNF isolation. The removal of FTIR spectra at peaks of 1730 cm-1, 1510 cm-1, and 1260 cm-1 as well as the drastic increase of crystallinity index in XRD and degradation temperature in TGA indicated that the chemical treatmen used successfully removed lignin and hemicellulose. At ultrasonication defibrillation time variations of 1, 2, and 3 hours, CNF with diameters of 24.30±0.62, 12.06±0.34, and 8.9±0.26 nm were produced where the diameter reduction was supported by an increase in the contact angle value. The percent yield of CNF at various ultrasonication times was 98%, 96%, 92%, respectively, and the slight decrease in the crystallinity index and degradation temperature of CNF of about 71% and 304ºC indicate that the ultrasonication method has little impact on crystal destruction and shortening of cellulose chains. Comparison with previous studies shows steam explosion pretreatment successfully reduces and simplifies the use of chemicals by damaging the initial structure of lignocellulose. The visual analysis and stability of the suspension dispersion, nanofiber diameter, FTIR spectra, crystallinity index, contact angle and thermal properties of the CNF produced in this study are comparable to previous studies so that the ultrasonication method is effective due to the lower mechanical defibrillation power used. | en_US |
