Preparation of palm oil empty fruit bunches nanocellulose-filled polyvinyl alcohol-polyacrylic acid biohydrogel

Natural-based biohydrogel has been used widely in industry, not only due to its renewable and abundantly available in nature, but also because of its non-toxic and biocompatible properties. Here, nanocellulose (NC) was prepared using α-cellulose of palm oil empty bunches by hydrochloric acid-catalysed hydrolysis and membrane dialysis purification in bidistilled water. The obtained NC was characterised by X-ray diffraction and morphologically by electron microscopy (SEM). The (NC)-filled biohydrogels were preprared based on polyvinylalcohol-polyacrylic acid (PVA-PAA) using N'N-methylene-bisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker. Preliminary results on swelling properties of the hydrogels on various ratio of PVA:NC:PAA showed greater swelling properties upto 2400%, although the presence of PVA and NC in similar ratio lowers the swelling property due to their interaction. These biohydrogels can be further utilized in medical, food and cosmetic industries.