A sustainable one-step method has been developed to prepare carboxycellulose nanofibers, directly from raw biomass by using only nitric acid or nitric acid-sodium nitrite. The direct use of raw biomass for the production of carboxycellulose nanofibers, has successfully overcome multi-step processes to convert raw biomass into nanocelluloses. We estimate that the demonstrated method can effectively reduce about 50% toxic chemicals and ~40% electrical energy during the conversion process. In addition, the effluent can be efficaciously neutralized with base to produce nitrogen rich salts that can be used as a plant fertilizer. The versatility of this process has been proven on different sources such as raw jute fiber, spinifex grass and bamboo cellulose. TEM measurement of produced carboxycellulose nanofibers were in the range of 250-400 nm and width 4-5 nm, having PDI ratio of 0.286-0.382. Interestingly, the nanofibers were prominently non-crystalline, indicated by TEM diffraction pattern, WAXD and <sup>13</sup>C CPMAS NMR analysis. The crystallinity index (CI) measured by WAXD, for carboxycellulose nanofibers produced from raw jute was only 38%, which is comparatively low as compared to 62% of jute fiber. The elementary crystallite size measured from <sup>13</sup>C CPMAS-NMR for produced carboxycellulose nanofibers was 4.58 nm, which is consistent with TEM measurement. As the resulting nanofibers are prominent non-crystalline in nature, they behave as a promising medium to remove the toxic heavy metal ions from contaminated water.

Novel one step method to prepare carboxycellulose nanofibers from raw biomass and their applications in heavy metal ions remediation

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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