Investigation of the Effect of Process Parameters on Fabrication of Nanocrystalline Cellulose from Crotalaria <i>Juncea</i>

Crotalaria juncea bast fibers a novel cellulose rich material is valorized by producing nanocrystals (CNCs) which gained much attention due to its unique properties. CNCs obtained during this study consisted of two steps: pretreatment C. obtain chemically purified followed sulfuric acid hydrolysis. Efficacy different methods chlor-alkali method (pre-treatment-I) and ultra sound assisted chlorine free alkaline peroxide (pre-treatment-II) was examined for CNC preparation. Pre-treatment-I found be more effective yielding higher crystallinity surface sulfate ester groups containing compared using pre-treatment-II. Moreover the structure altered with pure cellulose-I from pre-treatment-I. The process conditions pre-treatment – I optimized concentration 80%(w/v) produce with~43% yield, 80.9% index having rod-like (Length −120 ± 26 nm diameter − 25 5.5 nm). charge density 0.34 meqv/g zeta potential −27.7 mV recorded emphasizing stable dispersion.