Coconut has been known for its benefits in human life. Coconut coir, as part of coconut which is considered as waste, contains useful components. It contains high cellulose which is could be used in fiber industries. Meanwhile, coconut coir also contains lignin which needs to be separated. In this study, a delignification process was used to remove the brown color on the fiber caused by the lignin content. The delignification process was a pretreatment before the cellulose extraction was carried out. It had been done in the various NaOH concentration (0.5; 1; and 1.5 M), reaction time (1; 1.5; and 2 hours) and the reaction temperature (60,70, and 80 oC). This study aims to determine the cellulose content and the factor that affected the cellulose extraction and the characteristics of the cellulose extracted from the coconut coir. The Chesson Data method and SEM analysis have been used for the characterization of the cellulose. The delignification method known has the potential as a simple and effective method for extracting cellulose from natural materials. The result shows that the optimum cellulose content obtained at 100 mesh coir particle size, 1.5 M NaOH concentration, at 80°C for 1.5 hours was 69.82 %.

In this work, the Juncus plant was used as an abundant and sustainable raw material for the production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). Herein, cellulose nanocrystals were prepared via sulfuric acid hydrolysis exhibiting a needle-like shape morphology, with an average diameter of 6.8 ± 1.8 nm and length of 457 ± 76 nm, arising to an aspect ratio of 59. Moreover, X-ray diffraction and TGA show that the CNCs exhibit high crystallinity and good thermal property respectively compared to other sources. Further investigation was conducted by preparing novel bio-nanocomposites through the incorporation of CNCs into the polyvinyl alcohol- alginate (PVA-ALG) blend matrix. Thus, giving enhanced properties compared to the pure matrix, particularly the mechanical properties due to the good interfacial adhesion, confirmed by FTIR analysis, while maintaining good transparency at low CNCs concentration, which is required for packaging application.

The oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) as solid biomass of palm oil mill industry is available in abundance and has the potential to be utilized as the raw material of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). This research aims to investigate the effect of bioprocess treatment (bio-delignification, bio-bleaching, and enzymatic hydrolysis) on the nanocrystalline cellulose synthesized from OPEFB. The bio-delignification of OPEFB fiber was carried out using white-rot fungi (Tremetes versicolor and pre-bleaching pulp with xylanase. Trichoderma reesei, a cellulase enzyme type was used to hydrolyze the OPEFB fiber into nano-sized cellulose. The result exhibits that the cellulose content of OPEFB pulp using bio-delignification increased significantly compared to chemical treatment. Furthermore, the concentration of enzyme and hydrolysis time in the synthesis treatment affect reducing average particle size and increasing the crystallinity index while decreasing the yield of NCC produced. The synthesis process was under optimal processing conditions at 1% enzyme concentration and 3 days of hydrolysis time resulting in the NCC product with 155 nm of average particle size, 66.78% of crystallinity index, and a yield of 38.28%. The bioprocess technology applied in this study could improve the cellulose yield of OPEFB and enhance the quality parameters of NCC products such as particle size and crystallinity index.

Tapioca solid waste (TSW), as a source of natural fiber, is produced in abundance, but its utilization is minimal and even has the potential to pollute the environment. Unfortunately, TSW fiber has low physical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics that limit its application. Therefore, one way to improve the characteristics of TSW so that the fiber can be applied in various fields is by using the modified alkalization method. This study aims to determine the effect of alkali concentration on cellulose's chemical, physical, and thermal characteristics from TSW. Alkali treatment used NaOH solution of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% (v/w). The chemical characteristics of the fiber were analyzed for moisture, starch, lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose content. Fiber surface morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), functional group changes with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), degree of crystallinity with X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermal stability with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that alkaline treatment affected changes in the chemical, physical, and thermal characteristics of cellulose from TSW. The increasing concentration of NaOH causes the water and cellulose content to increase, while the starch, hemicellulose, and lignin content decrease. Surface morphology is getting rougher, fiber dimensions increase to 10% NaOH concentration, but at higher concentrations, it causes a decrease in dimensions. FTIR analysis showed that the intensity of the hemicellulose and lignin functional groups decreased with increasing NaOH concentration. The degree of crystallinity and crystal size increased until the NaOH concentration was 10%, but at higher concentrations, it tended to decrease. Meanwhile, d-spacing increased with increasing NaOH concentration. The thermal stability of the fiber tends to decrease with increasing NaOH concentration. Alkalized cellulose from TSW has the potential to be used in a wider field, such as adsorbent and composite reinforcing agent.

The performance of KLK06 CR004 as the iodine sampler system is certainly related with the specification, also with the adsorption properties and capacity of the filter filling material, which is applied on that system. A certain Activated Carbon material is applied as the filling material for the filter part of KLK06 CR004, for the purpose of radioactive iodine sampling from the released air through the RSG – GAS stack. The characterization of the activated carbon for KLK06 CR004, with and without TEDA doping, has been carried out to develop as a candidate for the iodine sampler system. The material used in this research was The KLK06 CR004 activated carbon and The KLK06 CR004- TEDA doping with various composition of TEDA. The surface morphology of the activated carbon was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Moreover, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the activated carbon composition was also carried out in this research, by occupying the Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The adsorption surface area and particle size sample were analyzed by the Particle Size Analyzer (PSA) and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET).

The purpose of this study was to look into the performance of a cornhusk fiber (CHF) reinforced polyester composite with pumice powder (PP) as a filler. The influence of varied PP volume fractions on composite tensile, bending, impact, and fracture morphology was studied. Using the hot press process, polyester-CHF composites with varied volume fractions of PP filler, namely 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% wt, were created. The results showed that increasing the PP volume fraction from 5% to 15% enhanced the tensile strength of the polyester-CHF composite. The modulus of elasticity and bending modulus tend to grow when filler Pp decreases from 5% to 30%, but elongation value decreases. Furthermore, the best bending strength and impact toughness of the polyester-CHF composite were produced at a volume fraction of PP filler of 20%. SEM images indicate the presence of CHF pull out in all composite variations as well as the number of voids dependent on the PP filler volume.

Bacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a remarkably versatile category of biodegradable polymers with a variety of applications in the packaging, agricultural, biomedical, and pharmaceutical fields. In the present study, bacterial PHAs films are characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Universal testing machine (UTM). It was found that almost 20% (w/w) of PHAs was produced from Ralstonia pickettii, and the five major types of the produced polymer were validated via FTIR analysis, i.e., 1046-1185 cm-1 (C-O stretching), 1723 cm-1 (C=O stretching), 2974-2926 cm-1 (CH3 and CH2 stretching) and 3450 cm-1 (OH stretching). The GC-MS chromatogram generated two main peaks, i.e., 2-butenoic acid methyl ester and 4-hexenoic acid methyl ester, at retention times of 4.62 min and 5.79 min, respectively. The main compounds of 2-butenoic acid methyl ester and 4-hexenoic acid methyl ester had percentage areas of 28% and 43%, respectively. Based GCMS analysis shows two monomer PHAs ie. 2-butenoic acid methyl ester and 4-hexenoic acid methyl ester, correspondingly. The blending of PHAs R. pickettii and PEG-400 positively decreases thermal properties and tensile strength and increases elongation at break.

Cr (VI) is persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic metal, unable to decompose in the environment, and accumulates in the human body through the food chain. The Cr(VI) ions can remove in aqueous solution by adsorption technique with cellulose extracted. Extract of cellulose were prepare from palm (Arenga pinnata) seed shell using acidified H₂SO₄ and bleaching methods. The cellulose have contained the hydroxyl (–OH) functional groups in structure, it can be an adsorbent for heavy metal ions. Cellulose was obtained with delignification and bleaching methods to break the bond between lignin and cellulose. The cellulose extracted were characterized by Fourier Transformation Infra-Red (FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM)-EDX. The adsorption process was conducted using pH, contact time, and concentration of Cr(VI) ions. The results showed that the optimum pH was obtained at pH 3 with an adsorption capacity is 0.88 mg/g. The optimum contact time was obtained at 120 minutes with an adsorption capacity is 0.89 mg/g. The optimum concentration was obtained at a concentration of 200 ppm with an adsorption capacity is 20.34 mg/g

Influence of Nanopaticle CaCO₃ Addition to the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene-CaCO₃ Composite. This research was carried out to study the effect of adding CaCO₃ nanoparticle on the physical and mechanical properties of polypropylene-CaCO₃ composites. It was characterized by several parameters such as tensile strength, hardness, and thermal analysis including both melting point and heat of fusion using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Based on XRD results, the particle size of CaCO₃ after 24 hours of milling was 39 nm. There are various compositions of polypropylene-CaCO3 composites (PP MF35: nano-CaCO₃) made in this study, namely 40%:60%, 35%:65%, 30%:70%, and 25%:75%. The results showed that the tensile strength of the PP MF35-CaCO₃ composites decreased with increasing nano-CaCO₃ content. Meanwhile, the hardness of the nanocomposites increased with increasing nano-CaCO₃ content, but decreased the melting point and heat of fusions (ΔH_m) of the nanocomposites. The infrared spectrum showed that the interaction between PP MF35 and nano-CaCO₃ was only physical interaction and there was no chemical reaction.