ABSTRACT

By-product obtained from plants has been reported to contain large amounts of cellulose. Carboxymethyl cellulose or cellulose gum is a cellulose derivative with carboxymethyl groups (-CH₂-COOH) bound to hydroxyl groups of glucopyranose monomers that make up the cellulose backbone. Major sources of carboxymethyl cellulose are found in plant fibers such as cotton, hemp, flax, jute and wood. The study seeks to evaluate and synthesize carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC) from cellulose isolated from dried water hyacinth plant. Water hyacinth samples were collected from Ologbo River along Benin Sapele road. The sample was washed with distilled water at room temperature, oven dried at 60^oC and grind in to powder. The powdered sample was delignified by bleaching with 1% NaClO solution; hemicellulose was removed by alkylation using 17.5% NaOH. The cellulose obtained was washed and neutralized using acetic acid and warm water. Carboxymethyl cellulose was synthesize at 55^oC with sodium chloroacetic acid and analyzed using infrared spectroscopy. The result indicates that the cellulose yield was 72.9±2.36, while carboxylmethyl cellulose was 69.45±1.83. The synthesized CMC possesses the characteristics of being soluble in water and sticky. The degree of substitution of the prepared CMC was 0.140±0.92; while for commercial CMC it was 0.144±0.98. The acidity/alkalinity of the CMC synthesized was 20.47±3.10 indicating alkalinity. The percentage value of NaCl in the samples was 2.923±0.87. The spectra obtained by infrared spectroscopy of the prepared CMC from water hyacinth also show the presence of carboxylic acids and methyl functional groups at 1157.50 and 1376.72 respectively.