Understanding the effect of synthesis parameters on the catalytic ionic liquid hydrolysis process of cellulose nanocrystals

Conventional production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) normally encounters several problems including high energy consumption, toxicity and corrosion risk. Implementation of green solvent ionic liquid (IL) is an alternative to this conventional method. Production of CNC is known to be influenced by several factors such as reaction time and temperature. However, limited studies on the regeneration yield and other properties of CNC produced at both variables can be found. In this paper, CNC with desirable yield, crystallinity and particle size has been produced under catalytic hydrolysis process of IL. Two different parameters have been studied which are reaction temperature and time. It was found that, CNC with particle size of 9 nm and 73% crystallinity index has been produced at 30 min reaction time. Meanwhile, 100 °C reaction temperature manages to produce CNC with 90% yield and 76% crystallinity. In conclusion, reaction temperature and time affect the yield and thermal properties of hydrolysis process.