Extraction and characterisation of lignin from citronella grass and eucalyptus wood.

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass has been acknowledged for potential use to produce chemicals and biomaterials. Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer with cellulose being the first one, making up to 10–25% of lignocellulosic biomass. Lignin is a three-dimensional, highly cross-linked macromolecule composed of three types of substituted phenols, which include: coniferyl, sinapyl, and p-coumaryl alcohols by enzymatic polymerization, yielding a number of functional groups and linkages. There are wide ranges of lignin sources available that is to say from non-woody plants like Citronella straws, wheat straws and woody plants like eucalyptus wood chips, pine chips. Hence, the physical properties will be different with respect to the original source and extraction method used. Citronella grass and eucalyptus wood are believed to contain cellulosic fibres have been proposed to be a potential source of lignin for paper industry with less environmental degradation threat. The objective of this research is to extract lignin from eucalyptus wood chips and citronella straws by addition of Soda concentration followed by passing the samples in the digester. The extracted lignin then added 3%concentrated Sulphuric acid and refluxing at 100°C. The extracted lignin will they be analysis by use of TGA and XRD Machines.