Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is an important product used in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics and wood pulp industries. Agricultural waste, now the recent and most commonly used material for the production of MCC has found significance in the market due to the high content of cellulose and availability. In this work, microcrystalline cellulose was produced from various selected sizes of groundnut husk to obtain an optimum particle size for the production of GH-MCC at fixed temperature, time and concentration. Alkali treatment was used followed by bleaching in this process. The FTIR indicates extensive removal of lignin and hemicellulose, while the physicochemical analysis conforms to standards. The percentage yield obtained were 32%, 32%, 32%, 28%, 32%, 44%, 28%, 32%, 52%, 36%, 56%, 48% AND 40% for the particles sizes 3.35mm, 2.80mm, 2.36mm, 2.00mm, 1.70mm, 1.40mm, 1.19mm, 1.18mm, 1.00mm, 0.560mm, 0.500mm, 0.425mm and 0.212mm respectively.
Citation: Hassana .G.A, O.A Ameh, and M. T. Isa (2021) The Effect of Particle Size of Groundnut Husk for the Production of Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) from Groundnut Husk (GH), Global Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry Research, Vol.9, No.1, pp., 21-34
Keywords: Groundnut husk (GH), Physicochemical Analysis, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC)
