Preparation and Characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) from Kenaf and Cotton Stem

Cellulose، microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and nanofiber cellulose are the ones of materials which are being used recently as biodegradable filler and reinforcing agent for making composites. In this research microcrystalline cellulose were prepared from kenaf and cotton bast by hydrochloric acid hydrolysis. The effects of hydrolysis condition on amount of crystallinity and crystal size of MCC were investigated by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR)، Xray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results have shown that in both samples increasing the acid ratio increased the crystallinity however; the size of crystals did not change. SEM results have shown that after hydrolysis the size of sample particles was micro.