Characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose Isolated from Conocarpus Fiber.

Conocarpus fiber is an abundantly available and sustainable cellulosic biomass. With its richness in cellulose content, it is potentially used for manufacturing microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), a cellulose derivative product with versatile industrial applications. In this work, different samples of bleached fiber (CPBLH), alkali-treated fiber (CPAKL), and acid-treated fiber (CPMCC) were produced from Conocarpus through integrated chemical process of bleaching, alkaline cooking, and acid hydrolysis, respectively. Characterizations of samples were carried out with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared-Ray (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric (TGA), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). From morphology study, the bundle fiber feature of CPBLH disintegrated into micro-size fibrils of CPMCC, showing the amorphous compounds were substantially removed through chemical depolymerization. Meanwhile, the elemental analysis also proved that the traces of impurities such as cations and anions were successfully eliminated from CPMCC. The CPMCC also gave a considerably high yield of 27%, which endowed it with great sustainability in acting as alternative biomass for MCC production. Physicochemical analysis revealed the existence of crystalline cellulose domain in CPMCC had contributed it 75.7% crystallinity. In thermal analysis, CPMCC had stable decomposition behavior comparing to CPBLH and CPAKL fibers. Therefore, Conocarpus fiber could be a promising candidate for extracting MCC with excellent properties in the future.

Assessing the response of five tree species to air pollution in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, for potential green belt application.

Tree species (including Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Ziziphus spina-christi, Albizia lebbeck, Prosopis juliflora, Pithecellobium dulce, and Ficus altissima) were investigated to elucidate their appropriates for green belt application. Leaf samples were collected from four different locations in Riyadh: (1) residential; (2) dense traffic; (3) industrial; and (4) reference sites located approximately 20 km away from the city of Riyadh. Leaves collected from the industrial site showed the highest leaf area reduction. The smallest reduction of leaf areas was observed for F. altissima (11.6%), while the highest reduction was observed for P. juliflora (34.8%). Variations in the air pollution tolerance index (APTI) coupled with the anticipated performance index (API) for each species were examined. The APTI value of Z. spina-christi was highest (58.5) at the industrial site while the lowest APTI value was for P. juliflora (14) at the reference site. Correlation coefficient and linear regression analyses determined that the correlation between the ascorbic acid content and APTI is positive and significantly strong. Our findings indicate that urban green planning in Riyadh should include growing F. altissima on roadsides as well as in heavy industrial locations followed by Z. spina-christi and A. lebbeck according to their API and APTI performances.

Contamination and risk levels of metals associated with urban street dust in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Urban street dust was collected from 22 locations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and nine metals (Pb, Cr, Zn, Co, Cu, Al, Fe, Mn, and Ni) were investigated. The concentrations of these metals were employed in several common contamination evaluation indices to examine the contamination and the health risk caused by metals. Evaluation of these indices showed that they had variable degrees of contamination sensitivity. For individual contaminating elements (Pb, Cr, Zn, Co, Cu, and Ni), the sensitivities of the contamination of contamination factor (CF), the potential ecological risk (Ei), and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) were very similar. Therefore, these indices should yield very similar results. However, enrichment factor (EF) exhibited a different sensitivity pattern for determining the contamination caused by metals compared with the contamination level indicated by the other indices used in this study. Therefore, to avoid potential false indication of contamination, it is not recommended to use EF alone for determining contamination level. As indicated by four contamination evaluation indices (CF, Ei, Igeo, and EF), Riyadh was mainly contaminated by Pb. However, the health risk assessment results revealed that the Pb contamination level did not exceed the significant risk level for non-cancer effects. The cancer risk values indicated a negligible cancer risk to inhabitants of Riyadh exposed to metals associated with street dust. Considering the comprehensive contamination evaluation indices, the ecological risk index (RI) showed that about 77% of the sampling locations featured high ecological risk of which approximately 41% also featured high contamination indicated by pollution load index (PLI).

Evaluation of Mechanical, Physical, and Morphological Properties of Epoxy Composites Reinforced with Different Date Palm Fillers.

The present study deals with the fabrication of epoxy composites reinforced with 50 wt% of date palm leaf sheath (G), palm tree trunk (L), fruit bunch stalk (AA), and leaf stalk (A) as filler by the hand lay-up technique. The developed composites were characterized and compared in terms of mechanical, physical and morphological properties. Mechanical tests revealed that the addition of AA improves tensile (20.60-40.12 MPa), impact strength (45.71-99.45 J/m), flexural strength (32.11-110.16 MPa) and density (1.13-1.90 g/cm3). The water absorption and thickness swelling values observed in this study were higher for AA/epoxy composite, revealing its higher cellulosic content, compared to the other composite materials. The examination of fiber pull-out, matrix cracks, and fiber dislocations in the microstructure and fractured surface morphology of the developed materials confirmed the trends for mechanical properties. Overall, from results analysis it can be concluded that reinforcing epoxy matrix with AA filler effectively improves the properties of the developed composite materials. Thus, date palm fruit bunch stalk filler might be considered as a sustainable and green promising reinforcing material similarly to other natural fibers and can be used for diverse commercial, structural, and nonstructural applications requiring high mechanical resistance.

Characterization of natural fiber obtained from different parts of date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.).

The current study is motivated by the strict environmental regulations regarding the utilization and consumption of ecofriendly materials. In this context, the aim of this study has been to prepare and characterize different date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fibers processed through the conventional water retting method. The chemical, elemental, crystallinity, thermal and morphological characterization of trunk (DPTRF), leaf stalk (DPLST), sheath or leaf sheath (DPLSH) and fruit bunch stalk (DPFBS) fibers was carried out. Chemical analysis revealed that the four types of date palm fibers display noteworthy differences in the content of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Also, the amount of calcium is relatively high in all the date palm fibers; besides this, DPTRF exhibited 69.2% crystallinity, which is lower than that of DPLSH with 72.4% crystallinity. Moreover, DPLST and DPFBS fibers are more thermally stable (higher thermal degradation temperature) than DPTRF and DPLSH samples. Morphological analysis revealed that the fracture surface of DPFBS was relatively rougher, which would probably lead to increased bonding strength with polymers in composites. Overall, we conclude that DPFBS would be promising alternative sustainable and biomass material for the isolation of respective cellulose nanofibers and cellulose nanocrystals as potential reinforcement in polymer composites.