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Chitosan-cellulose nanocomposite: Preparation, characterization, and evaluation as cationic color precipitant in sugar clarification process

Research Authors
Ahmed S. Ibrahim, Ahmed N. Gad, Hemat M. Dardeer, Abdel-Aal M. Gaber
Research Abstract

The present paper aims to use natural biodegradable polymers of chitosan (CS) and cellulose (CEL) to synthesize green chitosan-cellulose (CS-CEL) nanocomposite as a new clarifying agent. This is the cutting-edge of the sugar industry's clarification process. The CS-CEL nanocomposite showed outstanding results in zeta potential analysis, with a maximum value (+) 57.73 mV, leading to remarkable results in color adsorption via electrostatic attraction. It was also observed that CS-CEL has high mechanical stability. When CS and CS-CEL nanocomposite were used in the clarification of sugarcane (MJ), the findings demonstrated an improvement in color removal of up to 8.7% using CS and 18.1% using CS-CEL nanocomposite compared to currently phosphotation clarification process. Also, Turbidity decreased using CS-CEL nanocomposite compared to the traditional phosphotation clarification process. Overall …

Research Date
Research Department
Research Journal
Food Chemistry
Research Year
2023