Studies on cellulose nanocrystals isolated from groundnut shells

Today, various renewable biomass resources are accepted as waste material and are mostly burnt or used as cattle feed. The commercial value of these wastes can be increased by utilising them in production of nanomaterials. So, the present work was conducted for isolation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) from groundnut shells which are produced annually as waste in large quantity (similar to 7 million tons). The structural, thermal, morphological & elemental analyses were assessed through corresponding techniques. Light Scattering studies were performed to analyse more likely weight average molecular weight (M-w) & radius of radius (R-g). The high Mw similar to 10(5)g/mol obtained for CNCs in lithium chloride (LiCl)/N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) system, was an interesting feature which gets affected by LiCl and polymer concentrations. Solution with high polymer and low LiCl concentration was found to show higher values of M-w & R-g. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.