ABSTRACT
National kenaf research and development programs have been formed in Malaysia after realizing the various possibilities of commercially exploitable products derived from kenaf. To prepare cellulose nanocrystals, kenaf bast fibers underwent alkali and bleaching treatments in order to obtain cellulose, and were processed with acid hydrolysis. The use of natural fibers instead of traditional reinforcement materials, such glass fibers, carbon and talc, and cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) have attracted interest in several applications such as biomedicine, bioimaging, nanocomposites, gas barrier films, and optically transparent functional materials. Instead of extracting CNFs from algae, tunicates, and bacterial cellulose, CNFs can be extracted from natural plant cell walls. To extract nanofibers, mechanical isolation processes are used. M. Babaee et al. reported the use of cellulose nanofibers as the reinforcement for thermoplastic starch nanocomposites. The increase in tensile strength and Young's modulus may be due to the formation of a hydrogen-bonded nanofiber network and also nanofiber entanglement.
