Nanocellulose production from biomass has generated a lot of interest as biomass residues are cheaper, renewable and abundantly available. Biomass residues such as sugarcane bagasse also face severe disposal challenges and it is therefore imperative to convert them to value-added products. To obtain nanocellulose from biomass, a pre-treatment step is generally employed to remove lignin. In the current study, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, a fungal strain, was used to remove the lignin. The effect of using fungal treatment was studied on bagasse of varying size, and varying incubation days. Also, the effect of mild chemical pre-treatment prior to fungal treatment was studied. FTIR was used to study structural differences in bagasse residues. Klason’s lignin test and cellulose test were done to estimate the cellulose and lignin content. Thermal properties were found using TGA. Optical microscopy was used to find out size reduction. DLS was performed to obtain and confirm nanocellulose dimensions. Optimization was done on the basis of cellulose and lignin content, size reduction and thermal properties. It was found that the fungal treatment was more effective on large particles with prior mild chemical treatment. Furthermore, the average particle size of nanocellulose obtained from optimized process was found to be 401 nm and the final yield was ~34%.

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中文翻译：

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甘蔗渣制纳米纤维素生物预处理工艺参数的优化

由于生物质残渣更便宜，可再生且可大量获得，因此利用生物质生产纳米纤维素引起了人们的极大兴趣。甘蔗渣等生物质残留物也面临着严峻的处理挑战，因此必须将其转化为增值产品。为了从生物质获得纳米纤维素，通常采用预处理步骤以除去木质素。在当前的研究中，Phanerochaete chrysosporium，一种真菌菌株，用于去除木质素。研究了使用真菌处理的效果对大小不同，孵育天数不同的蔗渣的影响。此外，研究了在真菌处理之前进行温和化学预处理的效果。FTIR用于研究蔗渣残渣的结构差异。进行Klason的木质素测试和纤维素测试以估计纤维素和木质素含量。使用TGA发现热性质。使用光学显微镜来发现尺寸减小。进行DLS以获得并确认纳米纤维素尺寸。基于纤维素和木质素含量，尺寸减小和热性能进行了优化。已经发现，与先前的温和化学处理相比，真菌处理对大颗粒更有效。此外，

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