CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPONENTS ISOLATED FROM ALGERIAN APRICOT SHELLS (PRUNUS ARMENIACA L.)

Shells resulting from food processing and agricultural activities, such as hard shells of apricot, are considered as wastes and are generally used as fuel. However, this residue shows promise as lignocellulosic feedstock for biorefineries, for its conversion to liquid fuel or bio-products. This study is dedicated to the characterization and isolation of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses from apricot shells (AS). The chemical composition and thermal stability of AS after chemical treatment with solvents (ethanol-toluene), cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin were analyzed by standard methods, i.e. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Further, almost 50.2 wt% of a water-insoluble extract was obtained after the bleaching process, which showed the removal of lignin, and the final percentages for this extraction were 50.2 0.34%, 26.5 0.83%, 23.7 0.29% and 35 1% for holocellulose, cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, respectively. FTIR spectroscopy evidenced the structure of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses. Thermal analysis and the kinetic study suggested that cellulose had higher thermal stability than the other components, with the activation energy of 289.62 kJ/mol. Thus, our results indicated the high potential of AS to be used as an environmentally friendly material in a biorefinery, as well as in the modern polymer and chemical industries.