Serat Kapuk sebagai Bahan Baku Pembuatan Mikrokristalin Selulosa

Abstract

KAPOK FIBERAS RAWMATERIALFORMAKINGMICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE. Indonesia is one of largest producer of kapok (Ceiba Pentandra) fibre in the world. In 2008, Indonesia has 157.283 hectares of kapok plantation that produced 61.273 kg of kapok fibre annually. However, currently kapok fibre in Indonesia is largely has very limited use for fillers in pillows, bolster, or beds. Kapok fibre basically had relatively high content of cellulose, which is around 64%. High cellulosic content of kapok fibre indicated its potential as source for microcrystalline cellulose, which is micro sized crystalline part extracted from cellulose. Microcrystalline cellulose extracted with 2 stages, which is alkalization and hydrolysis. Alkalization process applied by immersing kapok fibre in solution of 17.5% NaOH for 8 hour at 100 °C to extract alpha cellulose of the kapok fiber. Hydrolysis was applied by immersing the alkali treated-kapok fibre in sulfuric acid solution with concentration varied in 0,1 M; 0,3 M; and 0,5 M and hydrolysis time by 4, 6, and 8 hours at 100 °C. Microcrystalline cellulose obtained was characterized with X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR). In this research MCC was successfully extracted from kapok fibre. Characterization result shown that the crystallinity of microcrystalline cellulose obtained is increased with the increase of acid hydrolysis time but will higher in the lower acid hydrolysis concentration. The highest crystallinity of microcrystalline cellulose was obtained from extraction with 0,1 M of sulfuric acid for 8 hour