We report an environmental friendly procedure to obtain cellulose polymers with different physicochemical properties and high purity. The source of cellulose was residues from an agar industry in Mexico. These residues are based on red seaweed and hence are devoid of lignin, thus facilitating the cellulose extraction. The extraction was achieved using a continuous solid-liquid extraction/reaction system. The use of this system reduced the time of extraction and also minimized the amount of solvent used. Celluloses were obtained in neutral/acidic/basic conditions leading to Celn/Cela/Celb polymers with 42/34/43.3% yield respectively. The polymers were characterized by 13C cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CP-MAS) NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT- IR), CHNS elemental analyses, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and compared against microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) which confirmed the identity and purity of the samples. Crystallinity index (CI [%]), was obtained from XRD/CP-MAS NMR data showing that all samples had slightly higher crystallinity than that of MCC. As shown from size exclusion chromatography (SEC); molecular weights, polydispersity indices (PDI) and degree of polymerization (DP) of Celn, Cela, Celb polymers were all higher than those in MCC. Compared to MCC, the physicochemical characteristics of the isolated cellulose polymers varied depending on the treatment, neutral being the mildest. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on the recovery of cellulose from the agar industry residues.11. L�pez-Simeon, R.; Campos-Ter�n, J; Beltr�n, H. I.; Hern�ndez-Guerrero, M. Free-lignin cellulose obtained from agar industry residues using a continuous and minimal solvent reaction/extraction methodology. RSC Advances, 2012 . DOI: 10.1039/c2ra22185c.

Novel methodology to obtain cellulose from agar industry residues

247th National Meeting (2014)

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