Open Access
ARTICLE
Isolation of Thermally Stable Cellulose Nanocrystals from Spent Coffee Grounds via Phosphoric Acid Hydrolysis
Brody A. Frost, E. Johan Foster*
Virginia Tech, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Macromolecules Innovation Institute, 117 Surge, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
* Corresponding Author: E. Johan Foster. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Renewable Polymer Materials and Their Application)
Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(2), 187-203. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.07940
Received 12 July 2019; Accepted 28 August 2019; Issue published 01 February 2020
Abstract
As the world's population exponentially grows, so does the need for the
production of food, with cereal production growing annually from an estimated
1.0 billion to 2.5 billion tons within the last few decades. This rapid growth in
food production results in an ever increasing amount of agricultural wastes, of
which already occupies nearly 50% of the total landfill area. For example, is
the billions of dry tons of cellulose-containing spent coffee grounds disposed in
landfills annually. This paper seeks to provide a method for isolating cellulose
nanocrystals (CNCs) from spent coffee grounds, in order to recycle and utilize
the cellulosic waste material which would otherwise have no applications. CNCs
have already been shown to have vast applications in the polymer engineering
field, mainly utilized for their high strength to weight ratio for reinforcement of
polymer-based nanocomposites. A successful method of purifying and hydrolyzing the spent coffee grounds in order to isolate usable CNCs was established. The
CNCs were then characterized using current techniques to determine important
chemical and physical properties. A few crucial properties determined were aspect
ratio of 12 ± 3, crystallinity of 74.2%, surface charge density of (48.4 ± 6.2)
mM/kg cellulose, and the ability to successfully reinforce a polymer based nanocomposite. These characteristics compare well to other literature data and common commercial sources of CNCs.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Frost, B. A., Foster, E. J. (2020). Isolation of Thermally Stable Cellulose Nanocrystals from Spent Coffee Grounds via Phosphoric Acid Hydrolysis.
Journal of Renewable Materials, 8(2), 187–203.
Citations