LIGNIN REMOVAL FROM LIGNOCELLULOSIC WASTE USING REJECTED BRINE SOLUTION
Lignocellulosic waste, such as date palm seeds, is treated with industrial waste such as rejected brine solution waste from a water treatment desalination plant to break down lignin and isolate and recover cellulose. Such a method is more cost effective and less toxic than other current and prior methods. Such a method concurrently solves two problems—usage of lignocellulose waste and usage of brine solution waste from a desalination treatment plant—to isolate and recover biocompatible, biodegradable versatile cellulose.
1 . A method for the removal of lignin from a lignocellulose material to extract cellulose from the lignocellulose material, the method comprising:
providing a lignocellulose material;
crushing the lignocellulose material;
providing rejected brine solution waste from a water treatment desalination plant;
mixing the crushed lignocellulose material with the rejected brine solution waste while heating to obtain a mixture; and
filtering the mixture to obtain the cellulose.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lignocellulose material comprises a waste Lignocellulose material.
3 . (canceled)
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein crushing the lignocellulose material comprises crushing waste date seeds, date seeds, or a combination thereof.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lignocellulose material is crushed to a size of about 180 μm.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the mixing comprises mixing the crushed lignocellulose material with the rejected brine solution waste by mechanical stirring.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the crushed lignocellulose material and the rejected brine solution waste are mixed at a ratio of about 1:90-110, w/v.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the crushed lignocellulose material and the rejected brine solution waste are mixed at a ratio of about 1:100, w/v.
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the heating comprises heating at about 90° C. and the mechanical stirring is conducted for about 4 hours to produce the mixture comprising a dark brown slurry.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein filtering the mixture produces a lignin-rich filtrate solution and a cellulose filter cake.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the filtering comprises vacuum filtering.
12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the cellulose filter cake is oven dried at about 105° C. for about 24 hours to obtain the cellulose.
13 . (canceled)
14 . Cellulose produced by the process of claim 1 .
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lignocellulose material comprises waste date seeds, date seeds, or a combination thereof.