CHARACTERIZATION AND PROPRIETIES OF CELLULOSE ISOLATED FROM THE CRAMBE ABYSSINICA HULL

The Crambe abyssinica hull was fractionated by steam explosion and org anosolv treatments to isolate the cellulose component. After bleaching and alkali treatments the cellulose was characterized by X-ray, FTIR and CP-MAS C-13 NMR spectroscopy. The classical profile of the cellulo se I allomorph was found to have a fairly low degree of crystallinity and relatively small crystal dimensions and is thus suitable to synthe size, in mild conditions, cellulose derivatives (i.e. carboxymethyl ce llulose and cellulose esters). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.