Effect of zeolite size and sonication time on hydrothermal conversion of cellulose to glucose

The study aimed to know the effect of size of the activated natural zeolite as a catalyst and sonication time on conversion of cellulose to glucose through hydrothermal method. Natural zeolite was crushed and sieved in the size of 50, 100, and 200 mesh. Zeolite was activated by means of heating at a temperature of 500 °C for 5 hours. The zeolite was characterized using XRD and BET. Hydrothermal conversion of cellulose using variation of zeolite size as a catalyst and sonication time. Product of conversions were measured using the Nelson-Somogyi test. The results showed that the type of natural zeolite is a mordenite. Surface area of activated natural zeolite in the size of 50, 100, and 200 mesh is 13.065, 99.096 and 27.081 m2/g respectively. The highest yield of glucose obtained when it was used an activated natural zeolite in the size of 100 mesh and sonicated as long as 240 minutes with the glucose yield of 12.69 wt%.