CELLULOSE NANOCRYSTALS FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE: ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION

"Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) is a by-product of the sugar industry, with approximately 1.9 billion tonnes produced yearly. The sugar industry produces a huge quantity of bagasse during the manufacture of sugar from sugarcane, which has a negative environmental impact, triggering environmental pollution. In this work, chemically purified cellulose (CPC) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were very effectively extracted from sugarcane bagasse by the acid-hydrolysis method. The obtained CNCs had a rod-like shape, with a diameter in the range of 2-7 nm, and were used to form a CNC-ZnS nanocomposite. The CNCs were seen to be less agglomerated, and the CNC-ZnS nanocomposite was further tested in an antibacterial study using the agar well diffusion method. The synthesized materials were characterized using a number of analytical techniques. The results demonstrated an enhanced antibacterial property of the CNC-ZnS nanocomposite."