International Journal of Engineering and Technology

Cellulose is one of the major constituent of all plant materials, which formed about half to one-third of all plant tissues and constantly fill up again by photosynthesis process.One of the objectives for this project is to extract cellulose from sawdust by using ionic liquid. The ionic liquid used was called Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) which be functioning as to break the lignin wall from the organic samples. In the extraction process, the 5 samples of sawdust had been immersed into the DMSO and stirred for about 1.5 hours on the hot plate at 50°C. Then, the dissolution of the sawdust has been observed where the colour of the mixture became darker and the viscosity was increased due to the dissolution of the wood.. Next, to characterize the sample, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been analyzed for cellulose rich extract and brownish liquor called lignin. The difference of IR spectra for cellulose rich extract has been detected where the difference between the peaks. Then the moisture content of the cellulose rich extract obtained shows that the lower the mass of the sawdust, the higher the moisture content obtained. Lastly the particle size analysis also has been analyzed where the volume of mesopores in the sample was higher than the micropore and macropore. . As the conclusion, the extraction of cellulose from sawdust by using DMSO has been done well and the cellulose was successfully been extracted while the lignin has been separated from the wood. In addition, the cellulose rich extract obtained can be used for further research as for example production of cellulose membrane nanofibers.