The Impact of the Alkali-Bleaching Treatment on the Isolation of Natural Cellulosic Fibers from Juncus Effesus L Plant

The continuous and irreversible decrease in the supply of fossil fuels creates, for a large part of the world, an ever-increasing vital need to switch to more accessible and sustainable alternatives. Biomass and lignocellulosic fibers are among the serious options in this contemporary perspective due to the distinctive qualities of cellulose, including its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity. This work focuses on the isolation and characterization of natural cellulosic fibers from the Juncus Effusus L (JE) stems in an effort to assess their potential use in the production of bioenergy and second-generation biofuels. The extraction of the JE cellulosic fibers was carried out using a sequential chemical treatment with NaOH alkalization and different bleaching agents (hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, Sodium perborate tetrahydrate) in order to decipher the synergistic effect of these treatments on the chemical composition, morphology and crystallinity of the extracted fibers. A comparative analysis was performed and results showed that enhanced properties were obtained with the use of sodium perborate tetrahydrated as a bleaching agent providing a relatively high cellulosic content of 70% which confirms the significant removal of lignin and hemicellulose.