Abstract
This article examines the process of converting large volumes of agricultural waste -rice straw -into cellulose which can be used for paper products manufacturing.The process of rice straw delignification is carried out using microwave irradiation at power levels of 100 and 180 W for 5-40 min with a sodium hydroxide solution.The delignification of the obtained product is also performed under microwave irradiation at power levels of 100 and 180 W for 5-40 min, using a mixture of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide at a 1:1 ratio in the presence of ammonium molybdate (0-5 wt.% of cellulose mass).Concentrated sodium hypochlorite solution is used for bleaching of the obtained mass.The yield of the target product, cellulose, is 42.7-70.3wt.%.The optimal product is cellulose obtained after delignification using a mixture of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide in a 1:1 ratio under microwave irradiation with a power of 180 W for 15 min in the presence of ammonium molybdate (5% of the cellulose mass) and without using sodium hypochlorite.In this case, the content of alpha-cellulose in the final product is 74.45 wt.%, corresponding to Grade A2 (cellulose used for the production of white office paper).The obtained results have potential application in paper products manufacturing.