Synthesis of cellulose acetate from palm oil bunches and dried jackfruit leaves

Abstract

Cellulose acetate is a natural polymer, that is widely used in various industries, especially fiber and plastics. Cellulose acetate was created by an esterification reaction of cellulose and acetic anhydride. The raw materials used in this research were empty fruit bunches of palm oil and dried jackfruit leaves, because utilization of waste, available in large quantities, and contain high cellulose. The objective of this study was to obtain high yield cellulose and cellulose acetate from palm oil bunches and jackfruit leaves. This was done by variating delignification time, bleaching time, and acetylation time. Cellulose isolation was performed through a delignification process by adding NaOH and bleaching process by adding H₂O₂. The optimum yield for the empty palm oil bunches cellulose was 36.45%, with the delignification time of 1.5 hours and the bleaching time of 30 minutes. The optimum yield of jackfruit leaves cellulose was 13.72%, with 1-hour delignification time and 30 minutes bleaching time. Cellulose acetate was obtained by cellulose activation process by adding acetic acid glacial, acetylation process with anhydrous acetate, and hydrolysis with water. The yield of cellulose acetate obtained was 81.75% for palm oil bunches and 63.89 for jackfruit leaves.