Rapid growth vegetables as new sources for lignocellulose nanofibre isolation: Physicochemical, thermal and rheological characterisation

Abstract

The rapid growth vegetables are an abundant and cheap sources of lignocellulose biomass to lignocellulose nanofibers (LCNF) production. The aim of this work is to study the feasibility of using two rapid growth vegetables (Chamaecytisus proliferus and Leucaena leucocephala) to LCNF isolation by different pretreatments (mechanical, enzymatic and TEMPO-mediated oxidation) followed by a high pressure homogenization step. The results obtained show the viability of all the pretreatments used for LCNF production, reaching the highest nanofibrillation yields and smallest diameter through TEMPO-mediated oxidation. In general, it is determined that leucaena presents a greater suitability for obtaining LCNF, resulting in smaller nanofibers diameter with greater surface area and similar crystallinity and thermal stability than those obtained from tagasaste. A strong shear thinning behavior was observed in most of the LCNF, which revealed a great degree of interconnectivity of the gel likenetwork and its potential use as a rheological modifier.