Abstract
Corn cobs (central part of maize) are either treated as waste or burnt as fuel causing environmental concern. In order to achieve its value addition in new research areas, corn cob can be processed chemically to find ways to generate new end products with added values at very low price. Cellulose-based nanoparticles (CPNs) have an ability to remain intact in stomach environment and small intestine together with the presence of specific enzymes produced by cellulytic bacteria (ruminococus) for colon biodegradability and makes this biopolymer a suitable raw material for the biomedical field, particularly as a colon-specific drug carrier. Cellulose-based nanoparticles (CPNs) were prepared from corn cob raw material by treating it with sodium hydroxide in the range 0-24% of sodium hydroxide concentration, oven dry basis at 165oC for 1.5 h at liquor to solid ratio of 4.5:1. The sample obtained at the optimised condition (18% NaOH concentration, oven dry basis of raw materials) was washed with deionised water, disintegrated and filtered through 80 mesh screens. Powder thus obtained was delignified by acidified sodium chlorite and dried in a vacuum oven to constant weight. Dried powder was further separated by 270 mesh screens. An average particle size approximately equal to 22 nm was obtained by using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Its crystallinity, functional group and agglomerated particle size was determined by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques respectively.
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