Production of Cellulose Acetate from Pineapple (Ananas comosus)

Leaves for Membrane Filtration of Sugar Industry Wastewater

Cacao, Kris C., Esleta, Kim Lalie M., Lejano, Mike Joshua D.
Engr. Rhonalyn V. Maulion

Chemical and Food Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Architecture and Fine
Arts, Batangas State University, Pablo Borbon Main II, Alangilan, Batangas City, Batangas 4200
Email: kris.cacao@gmail.com, lalieesleta@gmail.com, mikejoshualejano@gmail.com

Abstract

Enormous volumes of agricultural waste generated yearly and those agricultural wastes
including pineapple leaves are allowed to rot away unutilized. The pineapple leaves in the study
served as raw material for cellulose acetate production. The relationship between temperature and
reaction time on the Weight Percent Gain (WPG) and Percent Acetyl Content (PAC) were
investigated. Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) revealed that the maximum WPG and
PAC were 25.93% and 45.15%, respectively. The corresponding operating conditions were 60oC
and 6.6 hrs. A reduced quadratic model was generated for the WPG and PAC of the produced
cellulose acetate: WPG= -214.54970 +10.68285A +47.41919B -2.19183AB -0.128697A2 -
0.333438B2 and PAC= 18.78216 +0.768607A +1.11899B -0.1559AB -0.006429A2 -0.283021B2
with a predicted R2 of 0.7838 for WPG and 0.7263 for PAC. The pH and bulk density of the
produced cellulose acetate is 4.31 and 1.27 g/cm3. FTIR spectra show that the absorption intensity
of the OH group which indicates conversion of hydroxyl group to acetyl group has a peak
transmittance of 3,550.51cm-1. While, formation of C=O ester to C-O groups correspond with the
presence of cellulose acetate having values of 1,753.54 cm-1 and 1,236.06 cm-1 respectively. SEM
analysis displayed relativeness of cellulose acetate surface morphology with a mean diameter of 79
nm. For cellulose acetate membrane, SEM Analysis displayed the fiber diameter distribution and
has a mean value of 374 nm. Other parameter such as membrane thickness, pore size and surface
area were not tested due to COVID-19 outbreak. The properties of sugar industry wastewater after
the treatment using the produced cellulose acetate membrane were also investigated with 56.25%
decrease in the amount of Nitrates, 30.36% and 30.88% decrease in terms of Total Suspended
Solids (TSS) and Turbidity, 18.83% decrease in pH and 4.62% difference in Total Dissolved Solids
(TDS), respectively. The phosphate content remains the same while an increase of 9.57% and
13.07% in Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) were
observed.