A new cellulose purification approach for higher degree of polymerization: Modeling, optimization and characterization

Degree of polymerization (DP) is an important factor which is affected by purification process. In this study, a new purification process is proposed in which cellulose DP is preserved. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used for optimizing the purification conditions. Purification process of biomass at 100 degrees C in 10 g/L sodium hydroxide and 30 g/L sodium dithionite, is reported as the optimum condition of this treatment. DP, purity, weight reduction and yellowness index were 6012, 98.10%, 8.46% and 25.22 respectively. TGA, IR, XRD and SEM techniques were used to compare both this new approach and conventional purification treatments. The results showed that this proposed purification process can produce cellulose with higher degree of polymerization compare to the conventional method. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.