Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 19 No 4 (2015): 889 - 895

 

 

 

SURFACE MORPHOLOGY AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF NAPIER GRASS FIBERS

 

(Morfologi Permukaan dan Komposisi Kimia Gentian Rumput Napier)

 

Shahida Hanum Kamarullah¹*, Marlina Mohd Mydin¹, Wan Siti Atikah Wan Omar¹, Siti Suhaila Harith¹,

Badrul Hisham Mohd Noor¹, Nurul Zaimatul Akma Alias¹, Shahirah Manap², Rosfarizan Mohamad³

 

¹Faculty of Applied Sciences,

Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, 26400 Bandar Tun Razak Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia

²Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

³Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: shanum18@gmail.com

 

 

Received: 23 November 2014 Accepted: 27 June 2015

 

 

Abstract

A cellulosic component of Napier grass has high potential for the ethanol production. The presence of hemicelluloses, lignin and cellulose in Napier grass fiber can affect the ethanol production. The aim of this study is analyzed the effect of different pretreatment condition (2% of acetic acid and 2% of sodium hydroxide) on the chemical composition and observe the fiber surface morphology of the Napier grass fibers. The fiber surface morphology was observed using Scanning Electrone Microscope (SEM). The result of different pretreatment condition showed that 2% of acetic acid treatment have the highest percentage of cellulose followed by 2% of sodium hydroxide treatment and untreated sample. The hemicellulose content is reduced when treated with acid and alkali. Based on the fiber morphology characterization, acid and alkali pretreatment condition showed that the surface impurities on the fiber were removed. This study suggested that the acid and alkali treatment of Napier grass fibers has a potential to enhance the ethanol production because it can reduce the hemicellulose content.

 

Keywords: cellulose, Napier grass fiber composition, pretreatment

 

Abstrak

Komponen selulosa dalam rumput Napier mempunyai potensi yang tinggi untuk menghasilkan etanol. Kehadiran hemiselulosa, lignin dan selulosa dalam gentian rumput Napier boleh memberi kesan kepada penghasilan etanol. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk menganalisa komposisi kimia rumput Napier dalam keadaan pra-rawatan yang berbeza (2% asid asetik dan 2% natrium hidroksida) dan untuk melihat pencirian gentian serat rumput Napier berdasarkan pra- rawatan yang berbeza. Morfologi permukaan gentian dilihat menggunakan Mikroskop Elektron Pengimbas.  Keputusan analisa menunjukkan bahawa peratusan selulosa berdasarkan 2% rawatan asid asetik adalah paling tinggi, diikuti gentian yang dirawat dengan 2% natrium hidroksida dan sampel gentian yang tidak dirawat. Kandungan hemiselulosa berkurangan apabila dirawat dengan asid dan alkali. Berdasarkan pencirian morfologi, gentian rumput Napier yang dirawat dengan asid dan alkali mempunyai morfologi permukaan yang lebih licin dan mempunyai banyak ruang di antara gentian. Kajian ini mencadangkan bahawa rawatan asid dan alkali mempunyai potensi untuk menambahkan penghasilan etanol disebabkan berlakunya pengurangan kandungan hemiselulosa.

 

Kata kunci: sellulosa, komposisi gentian rumput Napier, pra-rawatan

 

References

1.        Cardona, E., Rios, J., Pena, J. and Rios, L. (2014). Effects of the pretreatment method on enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentability of the cellulosic fraction from elephant grass. Fuel 118: 41-47.

2.        Devin, T. and Samir, K. K. (2015). Characterizing compositional changes of Napier grass at different stages of growth for biofuel and biobased products potential. Bioresource Technology 188: 103 – 108.

3.        McKendry, P. (2002). Energy production from biomass (part 2): Overview Technologies. Bioresour Technol. 83 (1): 47–54.

4.        Anuj, K. C., Gajula, C., Konakalla, R., Rudravaram, R. and Pogaku, R. (2011). Bioconversion of pentose sugars into ethanol: A review and future directions. Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Review 6 (1): 008-120.

5.        Yasuda, M., Miura, A,  Yuki, R,  Nakamura, Y,  Shiragami, T,  Ishii, Y. and Yokoi, H. (2011). The effect of TiO₂- photocatalyticpretreatment on the biological production of ethanol from lignocelluloses. J. Photochem. Photobiol 220 (2-3): 195-199.

6.        Reddy, K.O., Uma Maheswari, C., Jeeran Prasad Reddy, D. and Varada Rajulu, A. (2009). Thermal properties of Napier grass fibers. Materials Letters 63: 2390–2392.

7.        Reddy, K.O., Uma Maheswari, C., Shukla, D. M. and VaradaRajulu, A. (2012). Chemical Composition and structural characterization of Napier grass fibers. Material Letters 67: 35-38.

8.        Palmqvist, E. and Hahn-Hagerdal, B. (2000). Fermentation of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. I: inhibition and detoxification. Bioresour. Technol. 74: 17–24.

9.        Parasuram, K.V., Reddy. K.O., Shukla. M. and Marwala.T. (2012). Morphological, structural and thermal characterization of acetic acid modified and unmodified Napier grass fiber strands. 7th International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Control (ISCO),  Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, 4-5 Jan. 2013, IEEE, 506 – 510.

10.    Gamez, S., Gonzalez-Cabriales, J. J., Ramirez, J. A., Garrote, G. and Vazquez, M. (2006). Study of the hydrolysis of sugar cane baggase using phosphoric acid. J. Food eng, 74 (1): 78–88.