Abstract:Distillers grain (DG) is a kind of lignocellulosic biomass with high content of cellulose. In this study, the feasibility of preparing microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) by DG was observed. Dilute hydrochloric acid hydrolysis was carried out to prepare DGMCC. The prepared DGMCC samples were then characterized by FTIR, SEM, XRD, TGA and DSC, comparing with that of DG and commercial MCC (Lowa?PH101). The fineness of cellulose was 94.55%. The optimum conditions for the preparation of DGMCC were solid-liquid ratio of 1:15 (g/mL), hydrochloric acid concentrations of 6% (V/V), temperature of 70 ℃ and time of 60 min, under which the DP and the yield of DGMCC were 288 and 27.01%, respectively. FTIR spectroscopy showed that the main component of DGMCC was cellulose. SEM and XRD indicated that the DGMCC samples appeared an irregular but overall spherical shape, the crystallinity and particle sized of which was 62.47% and 54.95 nm, respectively. In addition, TGA and DSC revealed a sharp endothermic peak at 365.3 ℃. In a word, DGMCC particles showed higher thermal stability than that of DG and similar structural properties to Lowa?PH101.
