PRELIMINARY STUDY ON NANOCELLULOSE PRODUCTION IN LOCAL SEAWEEDS

Abstract Seaweeds are sessile or immobile organisms that are equipped with remarkable cell wall strength that helps them to withstand the strong and uncontrollable sea waves and unfavourable condition in their habitat. With application of mechanical and chemical procedure, cellulosic materials from seaweed can be transformed into nanocellulose which is highly valuable in industry. This research aims to investigate the potential of local seaweeds collected in Port Dickson, Teluk Bidara Trengganu and Langkawi for nanocellulose production. The collected seaweeds were first morphologically identified, cellulose particles were prepared from the seaweeds and the obtained particles were characterised using particle size analyser (PSA). Six species of seaweeds identified were Caulerpa corynophera, Caulerpa microphysa, Dictyota dichotoma, Laurencia intricata, Sargassum siliquosum and Padina minor. For the preparation of cellulose particles, the smallest particles obtained was 1.259 µm from C. microphysa while the largest was 275.423 µm from D. dichotoma. Generally, the cellulose particles obtained were not in nano size. With improvement of nanocellulose preparation procedure, this preliminary study marks the beginning of bigger research on local seaweeds that have high potential for production of nanocellulose.