Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204

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Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy

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Effect of carbon-rich biochar on mechanical properties of

PLA-biochar composites
Kamonwan Aup-Ngoen *, Mai Noipitak
Materials and Nondestructive Testing Laboratory, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (Ratchaburi), Pracha Uthit Rd, Bang Mot, Thung Khru, Bangkok,
10140, Thailand

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Agricultural biomass residues are emerged from harvesting and processing of agricultural crops. When the crop
Biomass residues production increases, a large amount of biomass residues is produced and remained after cutting of peel, bunch,
Pyrolysis temperature straw and stalk of crops. In this work, agricultural biomass residues (cassava rhizome, durian peel, pineapple peel
Carbon content
and corncob) were selected as feedstock for carbon-rich biochar (CRB) production using a facile pyrolysis
PLA composite
method. Proximate analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize biomass feedstock.
The results showed that the percentage of fixed carbon in biomass feedstock ranged between 11.91% and
17.51%. Characteristic differences of the CRB were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spec­
troscopy. The carbon content in the CRB was found to significantly depend on biomass origin. Interestingly,
cassava rhizome, which has a higher percentage of fixed carbon, is a superior precursor for CRB production. The
study of different pyrolysis temperature indicated that the carbon content of cassava rhizome derived CRB is
increased with pyrolysis temperature. The tensile properties of composite between poly(lactic acid) PLA and
different types of biomass-derived CRB were investigated. PLA composite incorporated with a higher carbon
content-CRB tended to exhibit improved mechanical properties. Specifically, the elastic modulus and impact
energy of PLA/CRB composite specimens increased remarkably with the incorporation of CRB powder. The
current research indicates that CRB prepared from agricultural biomass residues could be a sustainable material
for utilization in PLA biocomposites.

1. Introduction traditionally produced using precursor derived from unrenewable

Biomass is a renewable and sustainable resource, which composed of
organic substances originated from animal or plant materials (Li and
Jiang, 2017). However, biomass does not include fossil resources such as
petroleum, natural gas and coal although these fuels also originate from
plant and animal matter. Biomass includes agricultural products and
residues as well as waste from households, the food industry, forestry
and agriculture (Tekin et al., 2014; Alhogbi, 2017). Biomass is a
resource which has been utilized and transformed by human activity
into several types of end-products; fertilizer, fuel for heat generation and
electric power production, and as feedstock for the production of bio­
chemicals. The biomass utilization has gain much attention from sci­
entists, governments, companies and societies due to current
technological developments. Recent technologies have led to investigate
the conversion of green biomass into carbon-rich materials, which were
source such as fossil fuels. Pyrolysis has drawn attention as one of the
methods for thermal decomposition of organic compounds in an inert
atmosphere by converting biomass into liquid bio-oil and carbonaceous
solid biochar (Tekin et al., 2014). Fast pyrolysis is often preferred for the
production of liquid bio-oil while slow pyrolysis is used for biochar
production (Mafu et al., 2017; Ozsin
€ and Pütün, 2017). A large quantity
of agricultural biomass residues is often found in developing countries,
which is generated from agricultural crop production and processing.
Traditionally, most agricultural residues are not utilized but often
burned or left to decompose naturally. Burning of biomass residues
causes air pollution to the environment and severe dangers to the pop­
ulation health due to the particulate matter in the air. Value-added
utilization of agricultural wastes is a practical way to conserve the
environment in which the burning of residues is reduced.
Biochar is a carbonaceous solid which has been widely used in a

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kamonwan.aup@kmutt.ac.th (K. Aup-Ngoen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2019.100204
Received 12 June 2019; Received in revised form 3 December 2019; Accepted 7 December 2019
2352-5541/© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
K. Aup-Ngoen and M. Noipitak
number of energy and environmental applications such as soil
improvement, environmental remediation, precursors for activated
carbon, catalysts or catalyst supports, energy storage devices and
biomass-based composite materials (Jain et al., 2016; Mahmood et al.,
2016; Hu et al., 2017; Tang et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2018). Biochar can
be obtained from the slow pyrolysis of biomass while partial combus­
tion, gasification and hydrothermal treatment can also be used to pro­
duce the biochar (Yu et al., 2019). Recently, agricultural residues are
promising sources for biochar production. Biochar from carrot residues
for phosphorous adsorption has been studied by a research team from
Brazil (Pinto et al., 2019). Carrot was pyrolyzed at various pyrolysis
temperatures with and without pretreatment with MgCl2. The biochar
from carrot residue showed a promising adsorbent properties and has
been suggested to be used as soil fertilizer. Sugarcane bagasse and rice
husk can also be used as feedstock for biochar production. Nwajiaku
et al. (2018) reported that the type of biomass significantly affects the
chemical compositions of the biochar. It was found that biochar yield
and nitrogen content decreased with increasing pyrolysis temperature,
however carbon, ash and nutrient contents were increased (Nwajiaku
et al., 2018). Biochar from corncob was produced and studied to eval­
uate the phytotoxic effects on the germination of cress (Intani et al.,
2019). Corncob can be processed via a slow pyrolysis while further
treatments such as heat treatment and washing could reduce the
phytotoxicity in biochar. Furthermore, biochar can be produced from
several types of agricultural biomass residues such as, sawdust, wheat
straw, and date palm bunches (Banitalebi et al., 2019). The biochar
production process is being extensively studied and developed in order
to reach a better yield product. However, the properties of biochar vary
widely on biomass type, reactor type and reaction conditions such as
pyrolysis temperature and heating rate.
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer produced from
sustainable and renewable resources by fermentation of poly­
saccharides, which extracted from corn, cassava or sugarcane. PLA is
used for various applications such as biomedical part, food packaging,
textile fibers and 3D printing filament. The demand for PLA is contin­
uously growing, however PLA has some limitation for different specific
applications owing to PLA brittleness and low toughness (Murariu and
Dubois, 2016). The addition of additive, filler or reinforcement such as
carbon biochar within PLA matrix is considered as an improvement
method to enhance the mechanical properties of PLA (Ho et al., 2015). It
is expected that the high performance PLA composite will lead to the
growing of the market demand of higher potential applications such as
transportation, automotive, electronics and electromagnetic interfer­
ence shielding (Tolvanen et al., 2019).
Utilization of biochar prepared from agricultural waste is expected to
generate social and economic benefits. However, the properties of bio­
char vary according to the complexity of the biomass type and chemical
composition. It is critical to find the unique characteristics of biochar
prepared from different biomass feedstock for enhancing their forth­
coming application. Consequently, this research is focused on the
investigation of carbon-rich biochar (CRB) prepared from different
agricultural biomass residues such as cassava rhizome (CA), durian peel
(DU), pineapple peel (PI) and corncob (CO). Cassava rhizomes are an
underground part of cassava, which is the part that cannot be used by
human and animal. After harvesting of cassava root, the rhizome is
usually left in the field. Corn is an important agricultural crop which is
used for both food and feed industries, thus corncob is the most common
agricultural waste from industrial processing. Durian and pineapple are
important commercial fruits of Southeast Asian countries. Generally,
durian and pineapple are consumed as fresh fruits, but on the other hand
peeling skin from fresh-cut are removed and discarded during fruit
processing. These agricultural residues mainly contain cellulose, hemi­
cellulose and lignin as the structural component in different quantities
(Manshor et al., 2014; Camacho et al., 2017; Gupta et al., 2017;
Corrales-Uren ~ a et al., 2018).
Slow pyrolysis of biomass components generally leads to the
2
Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204
formation of biochar. Hence, the aim of this research is to evaluate the
potential of using CA, DU, PI and CO biomass residues as raw materials
of carbon-rich biochar (CRB) produced by slow pyrolysis and compare
the carbon content of those CRB products. The effect of pyrolysis tem­
perature on the amount of carbon content of CA derived CRB (CA-CRB)
was also investigated. Additionally, the evaluation of physical and
structural properties of as-prepared CRB as well as the influence of CRB
on mechanical properties of PLA composite is also considered.
2. Experimental
2.1. Preparation of carbon-rich biochar
Cassava rhizome, durian peel, pineapple peel and corncob were
chosen as raw materials and collected from Kanchanaburi province,
Thailand. The biomass feedstock was dried and cut into small pieces
which the size was not more than 5 cm. For CRB production, the
resulting small pieces of biomass were pyrolyzed in a horizontal tube
furnace at 600 � C in nitrogen atmosphere for 2 h with a heating rate of
5 C/min. The pyrolyzed products, shown in Fig. 1, were milled using a
�
ball milling process to achieve the fine CRB powder used for the prep­
aration of PLA/CRB composite. In order to investigate the effects of the
pyrolysis temperature on the carbon content of CA-CRB, the cassava
rhizome feedstock was also pyrolyzed for 2 h at 400 and 500 � C with the
same heating rate of 5 C/min.
�
2.2. Characterization of biomass raw materials and CRB
Proximate analysis was performed to analyze the physical properties
of biomass raw materials in accordance with the standard test ASTM
D3172-3175. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to study
thermal decomposition of a variety of biomass raw materials. Mea­
surements were recorded under anaerobic conditions, as a function of
pyrolysis temperature, using a Mettler Toledo TGA/DSC1 analyzer, by
heating samples from 35 to 800 � C with a heating rate of 10 C/min.
�
Carbon content in cassava rhizome derived CRB was obtained by CHNS
analysis using Organic Elemental Analyzer (OEA, Flash1112, Thermo­
Finnigan) with the standard test ASTM D3178-89. The morphological
characteristics and elemental content of as-prepared CRB were investi­
gated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM, JEOL JSM-6610LV)
equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic (EDS)
analyzer. An ultra-thin gold coating was applied to the specimen on Si
substrate to yield a better resolution during SEM scanning. Fourier
transform infrared spectra (4000–400 cm 1) of CRB samples were ob­
tained, using a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (Thermo,
Nicolet 6700) in order to examine chemical bonding and surface func­
tional group in CRB samples. Moreover, Raman analysis of the samples
was conducted to determine the molecular structure of biochar using an
FTIR spectrometer coupled with an FT-Raman module (Bruker, Vertex
70-Ram II).
2.3. Preparation and characterization of PLA composites
Injection molding was used to fabricate PLA/CRB composites. 1 kg
PLA (2003D, NatureWorks) and 0.25% weight of CRB powder were
mixed before melting using a single screw injection molding machine
(Victor, ve-140) at 190 � C. The resulting injection-molded specimens
(CA, DU, PI and CO-CRB) were tested for tensile properties using a
universal testing machine (Autograph AG-I, Shimadzu) with a testing
speed of 5 mm/min. Standard dog-bone shaped specimens (type I) were
fabricated at 7 mm thickness, according to ASTM D638. Width of narrow
section was 13 mm and length of narrow section was 57 mm. Gauge
length was 50 mm, and overall length was 165 mm. Impact energy data
were also collected for PLA/CRB composites using a Zwick pendulum
impact tester. At least five specimens of each composition were tested
and average values for tensile and impact testing were recorded. The
K. Aup-Ngoen and M. Noipitak Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204

Fig. 1. (a, b) cassava rhizome, (c, d) durian peel, (e, f) pineapple peel, (g, h) corncob and their resulting CRB after pyrolysis.

standard deviation was also reported.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Weight loss of biomass raw materials

Proximate analysis of agricultural biomass raw materials is shown in

Table 1. The percentages of fixed carbon measured was between 11.91%
and 17.51% due to variation of the structural component of different
agricultural biomass. CO sample showed the highest percentage of
volatile matter and the lowest percentage of ash, in addition, PI con­
tained the highest percentage of ash.
The TG and DTG curves (Figs. 2–3) obtained from TGA technique
have been used to compare the pyrolysis characteristics and thermal
behavior of agricultural biomass residues. It is well known that the py­
rolysis of biomass involves several weight loss and decomposition
stages. In this work, it can be observed that there were four stages for PI
and three stages for CA, DU and CO biomass, which can be identified on
the basis of weight changes and thermal degradation temperature. The
first stage started from ambient temperature (TR) to 150 � C, due to the Fig. 2. TG weight loss curves of biomass raw materials; cassava rhizome (CA),
removal of moisture and some organic components in feedstock (Gupta durian peel (DU), pineapple peel (PI) and corncob (CO).
et al., 2017). The following initial weight loss stage directly represents to
volatile matter, significant decrease in weight was detected as temper­ the degradation of hemicellulose and cellulose, beside the temperature
ature increased from 150 to 600 � C, owing to decomposition of struc­ more than 400 � C was associated with lignin degradation (Nakason
tural components such as hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin (Singh et al., 2018; Mureddu et al., 2018). Based on the results of TGA and DTG
et al., 2015). analysis, the pyrolysis temperature range between 400 and 600 � C was
DTG curves demonstrated that CA more easily withstand decompo­ studied for preparation of CA-CRB in order to investigate the effect of
sition compared to other biomass residues. The peaks of second and pyrolysis temperature on the characteristic of the CRB.
third stage in CA were overlapped and both shifted to higher tempera­ In DU, three decomposition peaks can be seen from the DTG curves.
ture, indicating the highest thermal stability of CA biomass residues. A The first decomposition peak was due to the removal of moisture while
significant loss in weight of CA occurred at 200–400 � C was attributed to the second peak was associated with the decomposition of hemicellulose
in the temperature range of 180–190 � C. The major peak at around
300–310 � C was associated with the decomposition of cellulose and
Table 1 lignin (Manshor et al., 2014). It is known that lignin degradation occurs
Proximate analysis of biomass raw materials. in the wide temperature range from 100 � C up to 800 � C, due to the
Raw materials % %Volatile % %Fixed
molecular structure of lignin having aromatic hydrocarbon (Watkins
samples Moisture matter Ash carbon et al., 2015). For the DTG curves of PI, the peaks in the temperature
range of 220–290 � C were attributed to the decomposition of hemicel­
CA 4.99 74.57 2.93 17.51
DU 0.60 78.24 4.35 16.81 lulose (Banerjee et al., 2019). The final stage of decomposition occurred
PI 4.01 73.00 7.50 15.49 from 330 to 340 � C was attributed to cellulose decomposition (Shakya
CO 5.26 81.65 1.18 11.91 and Agarwal, 2019). Similar results of TG and DTG curves for PI were

3
K. Aup-Ngoen and M. Noipitak
Fig. 3. DTG curves of biomass raw materials; cassava rhizome (CA), durian
peel (DU), pineapple peel (PI) and corncob (CO).
obtained by other researchers (Corrales-Uren ~ a et al., 2018; Banerjee
et al., 2019; Shakya and Agarwal, 2019). For CO biomass, DTG curves
showed the two major peaks of pyrolytic decomposition of hemicellu­
lose and cellulose. Hemicellulose decomposes in the temperature range
of 250–280 � C and cellulose decomposes at 330–340 � C (Gupta et al.,
2017). It should be noted that total weight loss for the CO feedstock was
higher than that observed from other biomass residues due to the CO
having the lowest percentage of fixed carbon and ash (Jin et al., 2019).
According to the results in this study, different amount of structural
components in agricultural feedstock could lead to biomass decompo­
sition at different temperatures.
3.2. Morphology and elemental content of CRB after pyrolysis
Pyrolysis of CA at 400–600 � C was performed to investigate the effect
of reaction temperature on characteristics of CRB products. Elemental
CHNS analysis reveals the percentage of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen
content in the CA-CRB, which can be seen that changing of carbon
content and the H/C ratio of CRB depended mainly on the pyrolysis
temperature. As shown in Table 2, a significant decrease in H/C value of
samples pyrolyzed from 400 to 600 � C is observed. The carbon content
increased with increasing of the pyrolysis temperature, whereas the
hydrogen content decreased due to dehydration, polymerization and
condensation reaction of aromatic and cyclic compound in biomass
component, which led to the formation of polycyclic aromatic planar
structures in the CRB. (Gonsalvesh et al., 2016). However, there was no
obvious change in nitrogen content in CA-CRB with the increasing py­
rolysis temperature. These results are in agreement with several re­
searches that high pyrolysis temperature increases the aromaticity and
hydrophobicity of biochar products (Devi and Saroha, 2015; Rosales
et al., 2017). In order to study the effect of the CRB on the mechanical
properties of PLA/CRB composite, the high carbon content of the CRB is
required. With regard to high carbon content and H/C ratio results, a
pyrolysis temperature at 600 � C was chosen for preparation of other
CRB.
SEM images and EDS results of ball-milled products after pyrolysis at
600 � C are shown in Fig. 4. All prepared samples appear as angular-
Table 2
CHNS analysis of CA-CRB prepared at different pyrolysis temperature.
Sample name Pyrolysis Temperature (oC) Element (%)
Carbon
CA-CRB 400 400 67.90
CA-CRB 500 500 72.74
CA-CRB 600 600 75.90
4
Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204
shaped particles of bulk carbon structures with a particle size range of
1–20 μm. EDS analysis demonstrated that all samples were composed of
mainly carbon with some oxygen, silicon, potassium and other trace
elements, and that carbon content increased after pyrolysis of organic
precursors in biomass residues. Low alkali and alkaline earth contents
were also detected in these products. The CRB in our study was similar to
the results in a previous study, which reported that biochar composed of
C, H, N, mineral content and some trace element (Intani et al., 2019).
The results from the EDS technique showed that the CA-CRB was
composed of the highest weight percentage of carbon, nevertheless
CO-CRB contained the lowest carbon content. Obviously, the present
analysis indicates that the carbon content of the CRB is correlated with
biomass origin and pyrolysis temperature.
3.3. Structural properties of CRB after pyrolysis
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of agricultural biomass raw
materials and CRB products are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively.
Table 3 summarizes the FTIR band assignments of the raw materials and
CRB products prepared at 600 � C (Kim et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2020).
Characteristic peaks for cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were found
in all biomass feedstock (Adapa et al., 2011; Camacho et al., 2017). The
FTIR results showed that the absorption peaks of CRB spectra were
significantly lower than the peaks of feedstock spectra. After pyrolysis,
the functional groups of CRB samples differed from biomass raw mate­
rials. The intensity of the CRB band in the 3400-3300 cm 1 region
decreased when compared to the biomass raw materials as well as the
FTIR analyses indicated that hydroxyl groups were removed. These re­
sults were consistent with the lower H/C ratio of the CRB observed by
the proximate analysis. According to Shakya and Wang’s research the
reduction of hydroxyl group was due to dehydration of cellulose and
lignocellulosic component. Furthermore, the intensity of the CRB band
of aliphatic C–H stretching (2900-2700 cm 1) and –C-O stretching
(1200-1000 cm 1) decreased due to the reduction through depolymer­
ization of cellulose and hemicellulose by the pyrolysis (Shakya and
Agarwal, 2019; Wang et al., 2019). This finding is in agreement with the
results obtained by other researchers (Wang et al., 2007; Sombatprai­
wan et al., 2019).
Raman spectra obtained for each product are shown in Fig. 7 and the
assignment is summarized in Table 4. In this research, Raman shifts of
CRB produced from agricultural residues showed the D and G bands at
around 1304.4–1312.7 and 1577.3–1585.5 cm 1. The D and G bands
represented the vibration of the aromatic ring carbon system (aro­
matic � 6 rings) and E2g vibration mode of the sp2-bonded graphitic
carbon structure, respectively (Guizani et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2017).
Similar research reported that aromatic rings begin to form during the
pyrolysis of primary biomass constituents (cellulose, xylan and lignin) at
400 � C (Guizani et al., 2017). It should be noted that two overlap bands
of Raman signal in the region between 1400 and 1550 cm 1 might relate
to the contribution of amorphous carbon structure in the products pre­
pared by the pyrolysis method.
3.4. Effect of the CRB on mechanical properties of PLA/CRB composites
The mechanical properties of PLA composite with CRB have been
studied by tensile testing and impact testing. Tensile properties of PLA/
CRB composite are summarized in Table 5. The results showed that the
Ratio
Hydrogen Nitrogen Sulfur H/C
2.94 0.67 <0.00 0.0433
2.51 0.75 <0.00 0.0345
1.72 0.64 <0.00 0.0227
K. Aup-Ngoen and M. Noipitak
Fig. 4. SEM images and EDS results of CRB specimens prepared from (a) cassava rhizome, (b) durian peel, (c) pineapple peel and (d) corncob.
incorporation of biochar powder could increase the elastic modulus of
composites compared to 100% pure PLA although the tensile strength
and elongation at break decreased. Higher tensile elastic modulus refers
to the rigid property of material that requires more stress to produce the
elastic deformation when tensile force is applied. The increase of elastic
modulus could be attributed to strong intermolecular force between CRB
particles and PLA molecules, consequently CRB particles restricted
mobility of PLA polymer chain and resulted in enhancing the stiffness of
the composite material (Anwer et al., 2015; Ho et al., 2015; Li et al.,
2015). Adding the micro particles as rigid fillers can improve the elastic
modulus of PLA composite (Ho et al., 2015). In this work, the increase of
elastic modulus was consistent with the decrease of elongation at break,
5
Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204
which revealed a lower strain on a sample when it broke.
Furthermore, it was found the remarkable decrease in the elastic
modulus of the PLA/CO-CRB composite since the CO-CRB exhibited
lower carbon content compared to other CRB. It is possible that the CRB
composed of higher carbon content could have high interaction with
PLA matrix. Hence the interfacial adhesion between the matrix and the
CRB was improved. As a result, the CRB with higher carbon content
improve the stiffness of PLA composite compared to the lower carbon
content CRB. Similar results were obtained by Das el al. (2016) that the
enhancement of tensile modulus of polymer/biochar composite with
increasing carbon content in the polymer matrix has been reported. The
carbon provided the porous structure which allowed the infiltration of
K. Aup-Ngoen and M. Noipitak Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204

inefficiencies and lack of homogeneous dispersion of CRB particles in

the matrix. (Anwer et al., 2015; Nizamuddin et al., 2019). Moreover, the
filler size could have affected the stress distribution between the matrix
and filler thus the better mixing or dispersion process of PLA/CRB
composites needs to accomplish (Das el al., 2016). Interestingly, a
measure of the impact energy that a sample can absorb before it breaks
represents the toughness of material. According to the results in Table 5,
the toughness of PLA/CRB composites was improved by incorporation of
the CRB.

4. Conclusion

In this study, carbon-rich biochars (CRB) samples of cassava

rhizome, durian peel, pineapple peel and corncob were prepared by a
facile pyrolysis method. The proximate analysis and thermogravimetric
analysis of biomass raw materials were studied. Although cassava

Fig. 5. FTIR spectra of cassava rhizome (CA), durian peel (DU), pineapple peel
(PI) and corncob (CO) biomass raw materials.

Fig. 7. Raman spectra of the as-prepared CRB specimens; cassava rhizome

(CA), durian peel (DU), pineapple peel (PI) and corncob (CO).

Fig. 6. FTIR spectra of CRB specimens prepared from; cassava rhizome (CA),
durian peel (DU), pineapple peel (PI) and corncob (CO). Table 4
Assignment of Raman spectra.
polymer matrix in the pores, resulted in an improving of the strength and Bands CRB samples
stiffness of the composite (Das el al., 2016).
CA-CRB DU-CRB PI-CRB CO-CRB
Tensile strength refers to the stress that the material can handle
1
before it becomes deformed and breaks. From Table 5, it can be observed Wavenumber (cm )

the decrease of the tensile strength in PLA/CRB composites. The D 1312.7 1312.7 1307.2 1304.4
decrease of tensile strength could be attributed to stress transfer G 1585.5 1585.5 1585.5 1577.3

Table 3
Assignment of FTIR bands related to the functional groups of the biomass raw materials and CRB products.
Biomass -OH aliphatic C–H carbonyl and carboxyl C aromatic C ¼ C -CH2 bending -C-O stretching of Substituted
samples stretching stretching ¼ O stretching stretching of lignin polysaccharide aromatic group
1
Wavenumber (cm )

CA 3338 2919 1735 1638, 1595, 1507, 1420 1236, 1155, 1023 897–596
DU 3338 2918 1729 1601, 1507 1418 1246, 1153, 1025 896–603
PI 3339 2918, 2850 1727 1633, 1606, 1516 1418 1160, 1103, 1034 923–596
CO 3344 2918 1726 1635, 1606,1514 1423 1160, 1104, 1033 897–592

CRB samples -OH aliphatic - aromatic C ¼ C -CH stretching -C-O stretching Substituted
stretching C–H stretching stretching in CH3 aromatic group
1
Wavenumber (cm )

CA-CRB 3422 2921 – 1623 1383 1241, 1114, 1052 662–569

DU-CRB 3422 2921 – 1620 1383 1115, 1048 879–517
PI-CRB 3421 2905 – 1619 1382 1165, 1116, 1067 619.60
CO-CRB 3420 2903 – 1586 1383 1160, 1113,1042 873–672

6
K. Aup-Ngoen and M. Noipitak Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 15 (2020) 100204

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Mechanical properties of PLA/CRB composites. wasman.2019.02.034.
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100% pure 56.628 862.745 14.935 0.0171 Argüello-Miranda, O., Vega-Baudrit, J.R., 2018. Biogenic silica-based microparticles
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Acknowledgement/Funding
10.1016/j.jiec.2016.07.037.
Li, D.C., Jiang, H., 2017. The thermochemical conversion of non-lignocellulosic biomass
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versity of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), thailand through the 2017
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KMUTT research fund. The authors would like to thank Ratchaburi molecular weight olyethylene composites with excellent mechanical and electrical
Learning Park and all collaborating MNDT members for helps and sup­ properties. Mater. Des. 85, 54–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.06.163.
ports. Professor Dr. Somchai Thongtem, Associate Professor Dr. Titipun Mafu, L.D., Neomagus, H.W.J.P., Everson, R.C., Strydom, C.A., Carrier, M., Okolo, G.N.,
Bunt, J.R., 2017. Chemical and structural characterization of char development
Thongtem and Assistant Professor Dr. Sutatch Ratanaphan are during lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis. Bioresour. Technol. 243, 941–948. https://
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