The Effect Of Hydrogen Peroxide Concentration And Bleaching Process Time On The Characteristics Of Coconut Fib Cellulose (Cocos Nucifera L.)

Abstract

Indonesia is the largest coconut producing country in the world. The abundant potential of coco fiber  has not been utilized optimally. The purpose of this study were to determine the effect of H2O2 concentration and time of the bleaching process on the cellulose’s characteristics from coco fiber, as  well as to determine the concentration of H2O2 and time of the bleaching process to produce cellulose  from coco fiber with the best characteristics. This study used a factorial Randomized Block Design with  two factors, that were concentration of H2O2 (K) (20%, 30% and 40%) and time of the bleaching (W)  (60 minutes and 120 minutes). Variables observed were yield, whiteness index, cellulose, hemicellulose  and lignin. The concentration of hydrogen peroxide and time of the bleaching process had a very  significant effect on all observed variabels. The interaction between treatments had a very significant  effect on cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, a significant effect on the whiteness index, but no  significant effect on the yield of coco fiber. The best treatment for the production of cellulose was  obtained with a concentration of 40% H2O2 and a bleaching time of 120 minutes. The characteristics of  the cellulose produced were 38.45±2.51% yield, 76.23±1.54% whiteness index, 90.19±0.66% cellulose,  5.53±0.58% hem icellulose and 3.66 ±0.18% lignin.