Investigation and comparison of three alpha-cellulose extraction methods from Turkmen Sahra cotton waste

Abstract: In this research, alpha-cellulose was extracted from Turkmen Sahra cotton waste (linter) under mild conditions. Effect of soda curing with auxiliaries such as sodium sulfide and sodium dithionite were investigated on the final properties of the alpha-cellulose, including degree of polymerization, weight loss and yellowness. Also, influence of bleaching conditions by hydrogen peroxide on the properties of final product was studied. Under mild curing with sodium hydroxide/sodium dithionite, alpha-cellulose containing optimal degree of polymerization (DP), yellowness and weight loss equal to 5755, 24.20 and 8.95%, was achieved respectively, which is higher in DP and lower in yellowness and weight loss in comparison to other similar methods. The product whiteness and DP were achieved to be 52.64 and 5441 respectively after bleaching with 3% (w/w) hydrogen peroxide at 85oC.