Chemical and thermal stability of rice husks against alkali treatment

Chemical and thermal stability of rice husks against alkali treatment with 2 to 8% w/v NaOH are presented and discussed in this paper. The thermal stability of the rice husks was examined by using a thermal gravimetric analysis instrument. Chemical stability was evaluated by examining the organic components of rice husks using proximate analysis. The results indicated that the proportion of lignin and hemicellulose in rice husks treated with NaOH ranging from 4 to 8% decreased significantly by 96% and 74%, respectively. The thermal stability and final degradation temperatures of the alkali-treated rice husks were also lowered by 24-26°C due to degradation of hemicellulose and lignin during alkali treatment. Absence of the onset degradation zones in the alkali-treated rice husks was a further indication that hemicellulose and other volatile substances degraded during alkali treatment. This leads to a conclusion that alkali treatment of rice husks with more than 4% NaOH causes a substantial chemical degradation of rice husks, which subsequently decreases their thermal stability.