Preparation and characterization of micro- and nano-fibrils from jute

In order to prepare micro- and nano-fibrils from jute, the binder has to be cleaned off. A new technique including chemical (room temperature alkaline, acid steam, and 80 °C alkaline) and physical (high pressure steam) treatments of natural fibers was developed. The effects of chemical and physical treatments on the morphological development of jute fibers from micro- to nano-scale were observed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This novel natural fibers treatment technology has two advantages compared with others. One is the long strands of natural fibers keep their length by special acid steam treatment, but the traditional acid solution treatment makes the length of natural fibers short. Another one is the high pressure steam treatment that made jute fibers nano-fibrils. The thermal property of untreated and treated fibers was determined by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) which indicated that the thermal stability of the jute fibers was enhanced after treatments. The lignin acted as binder was mainly removed by analyzing solid residues using fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR).