Development of Nanocellulose‐TiO ₂ (NCT) Composites for Simultaneous Photodegradation and Antibacterial Activity of Liquid Waste

ABSTRACT Composites resulting from a combination of metal oxide semiconductors and cellulose materials can provide superior functional properties that can be used as a photocatalytic degradation of waste and as an antibacterial agent. This study aims to extract cellulose (nanocrystal/CNC and nanofiber/CNF) from empty palm oil fruit bunches (EPOFB) and composite it with TiO 2 semiconductor to become CNCT/CNFT and is used for simultaneous photocatalytic bacteria inactivation and liquid waste degradation. CNC was obtained from acid hydrolysis at low concentrations of EPOFB and CNF was fibrillated from EPOFB using Ultra Turrax. Meanwhile CNCT/CNFT were synthesized using the impregnation method with mixing followed by sonication and drying. The resulting nanocomposites were characterized by TEM/SEM‐EDX, XRD, FTIR and UV‐Vis DRS. Photodegradation and disinfection were carried out in a photoreactor illuminated by a UV lamp. The concentration of synthesis and real wastes were measured using a spectrophotometer and COD method respectively, while the number of microbes was determined using the Total Plate Count (TPC) method. From the characterization results, CNCT/CNFT have been successfully formed. The photocatalytic results showed that the composites (CNCT 30‐70 and CNFT 50‐50) under UV irradiation could be a potential candidate for degrading waste containing paracetamol and hospital waste and could also destroy E. coli and S. aureus bacteria simultaneously.