PamantasanngLungsodngMaynila College of Engineering and Technology Chemical Engineering Department

Equipment Design
Williamson ether synthesis of cellulose from Banana Plant leaves and psuedostem for the production of HYPROMELLOSE

Submitted by: Aonuevo. Eula Mae Carla Falculan, Mae Florizel Fortuny, Emyl Leonen, Dianna Lyn

Submitted to: Engr. Milagros Cabangon

Banana Plant (Musa Sapientum) locally known as Saging is a tropical plant growing in all regions of the Philippine. Philippines ranked 5th as top producer of Banana according to Agri-food Business Development center (2000). Each banana tree bears fruit only once, so they plant is chopped and thrown away after harvesting the fruit, thus, the plant become a waste of the Banana Industry. This waste is composed of the leaves, stem and sheath. Cellulose ethers are polymers produced by the chemical modification of cellulose. This includes hydroxylpropyl Methylcellulose. An estimated growth rate of 3.5% per year is expected for all cellulose ether products in 2012 2018. To address the concerns in the waste produce by the Banana industry as well as the increasing demands in cellulose ethers, the researchers proposed to utilize the cellulose in the pseudostem and leaves of the Banana Plant. According to studies conducted the pseudostem of the banana plant contains around 42 percent cellulose while the banana leaves contains around 31 percent cellulose which make it suitable for this research. The researchers plan to produce Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose (HPMC) that conforms to the commercially available one. This research also seeks to predict the marketability of the product and to determine the best suited parameter for the production of HPMC. The pseudostem and leaves will undergo series of treatment to procure its cellulose such as decortications and digestion. After procuring the cellulose from the raw materials it will undergo mercerization and etherification to produce Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose