Sustainable carboxymethyl cellulose from ozonated empty fruit bunch for application as food coating additive

Raissa Michele Mba Makam; Wan Nor Nadyaini Wan Omar; Pavitra Thevi Arnandan; Muhammad Sufri Abd Muhaimin; Danish Akmal Jihat Ahmad; Amnani Shamjuddin; Zhahidah Husna Hassan; Ken-Lin Chang; Nor Aishah Saidina Amin

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.145660

Sustainable carboxymethyl cellulose from ozonated empty fruit bunch for application as food coating additive

Int J Biol Macromol. 2025 Jun 30;319(Pt 4):145660. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.145660. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Raissa Michele Mba Makam¹, Wan Nor Nadyaini Wan Omar¹, Pavitra Thevi Arnandan¹, Muhammad Sufri Abd Muhaimin¹, Danish Akmal Jihat Ahmad¹, Amnani Shamjuddin¹, Zhahidah Husna Hassan¹, Ken-Lin Chang², Nor Aishah Saidina Amin³

Affiliations

¹ Chemical Reaction Engineering Group (CREG), Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
² Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYU), Gushan Dist., Kaohsiung City 804201, Taiwan.
³ Chemical Reaction Engineering Group (CREG), Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Electronic address: noraishah@cheme.utm.my.

PMID: 40602563
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.145660

Abstract

The increasing demand for sustainable food packaging has sparked interest in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) derived from renewable oil palm biomass. This study utilized BiOzCMC, a novel CMC synthesized from ozonated Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) using green ozonolysis pre-treatment and carboxymethylation. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Fractional Factorial Design (FFD) were applied to optimize sodium hydroxide (NaOH) concentration, sodium monochloroacetate (SMCA) ratio, reaction time, and temperature. The optimised BiOzCMC (R² 98.24 %) achieved a Degree of Substitution (DS) of 1.2, 250.2 % yield, 75 % purity, and 5.05 % moisture content. Analysis was conducted using several techniques, including X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and Particle Size Analysis (PSA). The results revealed a decrease in crystallinity (5.15 %), well-defined carboxyl peaks, a smoother morphology, higher thermal stability, and a smaller particle size (0.95 μm) compared to commercial carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCc). BiOzCMC extended the shelf life, reduced weight loss, improved mechanical properties, and suppressed microbial growth for over a month when used as an additive to coat tomatoes. These results highlight BiOzCMC as a sustainable food coating additive supporting waste valorisation.

Keywords: Additive; Bio-based material; Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC); Empty fruit bunch; Ozonolysis; Sustainable food coating.