Isolation of Cellulose Nanocrystals from Bacterial Cellulose Produced from Pineapple Peel Waste Juice as Culture Medium

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were isolated by the sulfuric acid hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose (BC) produced by Gluconacetobacter xylinus using pineapple peel waste juice as culture medium. Optimal conditions of the acid hydrolysis were obtained at concentration of sulfuric acid of 50%, hydrolysis time ranging 25∼40 minutes and temperature at 50 °C. The FTIR study shows that the CNC spectrum were similar with BC which indicated that both have similar chemical composition; however there are some peaks alteration at 2900 cm−1 and 1430 cm−1 which indicated that BC has changed into CNC. The crystallinity of CNC determined by FTIR was found to be higher than BC. By TEM observation, the CNC particles had average length of 325 nm and diameter of 25 nm with average aspect ratio (L/D) around 13. The TEM images also show the morphology of CNC that has rod-like structure.