Journal of Physical Science, Vol. 28(2), 115–126, 2017 © Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2017. This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Oil Palm Frond Waste for the Production of Cellulose Nanocrystals Noor Afeefah Nordin, Othman Sulaiman, * Rokiah Hashim and Mohamad Haafz Mohamad Kassim Division of Bioresource, Paper and Coatings Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM Pulau Pinang, Malaysia * Corresponding author: osulaiman@gmail.com Published online: 15 August 2017 To cite this article: Nordin, N. A. et al. (2017). Oil palm frond waste for the production of cellulose nanocrystals. J. Phys. Sci., 28(2), 115–126, https://doi.org/10.21315/jps2017.28.2.8 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.21315/jps2017.28.2.8 ABSTRACT: Oil palm frond (OPF) waste is one of the sustainable raw materials obtained after pruning of the OPFs. The objective of this study is to produce cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from OPFs by chemo-mechanical treatment. The multi-step process started with removal of extractives, wax and pectins by soxhlet extraction, followed by removal of lignin using sodium chlorite and 10% (v/v) acetic acid. The bleached samples were then soaked in potassium hydroxide to remove the hemicellulose and fnally underwent acid hydrolysis with 64% (v/v) sulphuric acid hydrolysis for 1 h. The CNC obtained were characterised using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffractions (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal gravimetric analyser (TGA). The TEM images showed that the fbres were well dispersed and the treatment had reduced the size of fbres with average dimensions of 9.88 nm in diameter and 504.12 nm in length. The XRD results showed that the crystallinity index of the extracted cellulose fbres was 52.3% in comparison with the raw OPF, 35%. The results from FTIR analysis showed some differences in the peaks and some were shifted due to removal of some components in the fbres. The TGA confrmed that the CNC had improved its thermal property by having an onset temperature of 258.34°C in comparison with the raw OPF, 197.48°C. This isolated CNC has great properties and can be used in many applications such as in biomedical feld, food industry, cosmetics and wood products. Keywords: Oil palm frond, cellulose nanocrystals, chemo-mechanical, OPF waste, isolated CNC