Novel Nitrocellulose Made from Bacterial Cellulose

Nitrocellulose (NC) is useful in several industrial segments, especially in the production of gun, rocket, and missile propellants. The conventional way to prepare NC is done through the nitration of plant cellulose with nitric acid. In this work, bacterial cellulose nitrate (NBC) is synthesized by bacterial cellulose (BC) and nitro-sulfric acid under heterogeneous conditions. NBC with the degree of substitution (DS) of 1-2.85 was obtained, and the effects of sulfuric to nitric ratio, reaction temperature, and reaction time on the value of DS of NBC are discussed. The samples are also characterized by elemental analysis, thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction.