Morphological and Structural Characterization of Steam-Explodted Hemp Fibres

Abstract

Cellulosic materials have a great potential for multifunctional nanomaterial formation. They are abundant, renewable, have a self-assembled well-defined nanofibrillar structure. Hemp fibre (cannabis sativa) is one of the plant-based bast fibres and has diverse reinforcing applications in different industry areas. Cellulose was extracted from drew-retted hemp fibres of variety Bialobrzeckie grown in Agricultural Science Centre of Latgale using adopted steam explosion technique (STEX) together with mild alkali treatment. It is possible to decompose natural fibre hierarchical structure down to microfibrilles by using STEX. Also, lignine and pectine, sugars and other components are removed by this method. The alkali treatment removes a certain amount of lignin, hemicellulose, wax and oils covering the external surface of the fibre cell wall and depolymerises the native cellulose structure