Ozone assisted modification and pulverization of plant fibres

The present work investigated the effect of ozone treatment on surface modification and pulverization of plant fibres. The surface of jute, sisal, and corn husk fibres was modified by ozone treatment to remove the non-cellulosic contents and thereby improve their pulverization by ball milling process for extraction of cellulose micro/nano fibrils. The surface morphology, physical appearance, hydrophilicity, and mechanical properties of plant fibres were examined before and after the ozone treatment. Among all plant fibres, the ozone treatment of corn husk fibres was found to remove lignin and increase hydrophilicity to greater extent, however with higher tendency of defibrillation and fibre rupture. The maximum drop in tensile strength was seen in case of corn husk fibres followed by sisal and jute fibres after the ozone treatments. The tensile strength was reduced by 70%, 60%, and 47% in case of corn husk, sisal, and jute fibres respectively after 15 min of ozone treatment. When pulverization of plant fibres was carried out in ball milling, the ozone treatment was observed beneficial for easier defibrillation of cellulose micro/nano fibrils. The pulverization of jute, corn husk and sisal fibres produced the particles with diameter of 610 nm, 380 nm, and 530 nm after 15 min of ozone treatment respectively. •Extracted cellulose microfibrils from plant fibres by ozone assisted ball milling.•Ozone treatment resulted in removal of non-cellulosic contents from plant fibres.•Ozone treatment resulted in easier pulverization of plant fibres.•Corn husk fibres pulverized faster than jute and sisal fibres.