Nanocomposites and nanomaterials

Physico-chemical properties of microcrystalline cellulose from flax
T.V. Tkachenko, V.A. Yevdokymenko, D.S. Kamenskyh, Y.V. Sheludko, V.A. Povazhny, N.Y. Khimach, V.I. Kashkovsky
V.P. Kukhar Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Petrochemistry of the NAS of Ukraine, Murmanskaya str, 1, Kyiv-94, 02094, Ukraine.
E-mail: ttv13ttv@gmail.com 

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is insoluble in water and most common solvents; the poor solubility in attributed primarily to the strong intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the individual chains. In spite of its poor solubility characteristics, MCC is used in a wide range of applications including composites, netting, coatings, packing, paper, etc. Chemical modification of MCC is performed to improve process ability and to produce cellulose derivatives. High-quality wood pulp and cotton are the main raw material for MCC production. For countries that don't have free stocks of wood and cotton, as a source of fibres for the MCC, non-wood vegetable raw materials may be considered. The aim of our work was the investigation of the local raw materials using as the MCC's source. 
Air-dry flax (fraction 2-5 mm) from Kyivska Regions was raw materials for MCC. All chemicals used were analytical grade reagents. A green one-stage organosolv pulping that underlies the method for obtaining microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) has been described in [1].
The obtained MCC were analysed for morphology and composition using different methods: low-temperature nitrogen sorption-desorption, XRD, XRF, FTIR-ATR, AFM. The yield of cellulosic product was estimated by weighing.
It was determined that the MCC yields was 99 %. A well crystallised and homogeneous on the lattice parameters sample of MCC gives narrow and high X-ray diffraction peaks. By reflecting FTIR results, chemical treatments that have been used in this study were successfully removed hemicellulose, lignin and amorphous region from cellulose producing a highly crystalline MCC. The AFM method shows that the obtained MCC have fibers with a diameter from 8 to 80 nm.
The catalytic experiments and laboratory installation assembling have been funding by Target Complex Program of Scientific Research of NAS of Ukraine “Biofuels and bioenergy”, project 9, 2018-2022.
1.	Tkachenko, T.V., Yevdokymenko, V.O., Kamenskyh, D.S., Filonenko, M.M., Vakhrin, V.V., Kashkovsky V.I. Processing of vegetable waste of different origin // Science and Innovation, 14(2), 48-61 (2018)