Abstract:
The peanut shell is a waste product of peanut cultivation and is available throughout the year in Sri
Lanka. The peanut consists of cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose in its shell, which can be utilized
to produce a biodegradable packaging material. As a result, the current research was focused to
estimate the ash content, extractives, total solid content, hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin of peanut
shells. For that purpose, peanut shell was collected in the Mullaithivu district in the Northern province
of Sri Lanka. Further, it was dried in a cabinet dryer, ground using the grinder and sieved into 1mm
and 90 µm particle size powders. The composition of the peanut shell was analyzed using standard
methods as ‘Klason’ method for lignin determination and drying methods for other components.
Further, the cellulose content was compared with the chemical extraction method which is related to
the removal of all the major components except cellulose, and with the literature review which was
analyzed by the above standard method. The total solid content of the peanut shell is 92.038 ± 0.0037
% which comprises 4.58 ± 0.0005 % ash, 2.93 ± 0.015 % extractives, 18.1 ± 2.423 % hemicellulose,
32.24 ± 0.081 % lignin and 34.183 ± 0.012 % cellulose. According to the extraction process, the
cellulose content was, 32.9 % whereas from the literature review it was 35.7 %. As a by-product, the
peanut shell is a valuable source of cellulose that may be utilised to make cellulose-based goods.
