Parvaneh Shahbazi - Graduated student, Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology,
Behzad Tayebeh - Professor Assistance, Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology.
Nasser Hodaei - Graduated student, Engineering’s factually, Islamic Azad University Branched Ahvaz.

In this study, cellulose nano whiskers were extracted from poplar (wood plant) by a chemo- mechanical process. In the chemical step, non-cellulosic materials were removed treating fibers by sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid. Afterward, the obtained pulp was bleached twiceusing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and then in the final step sodium hypochlorite (NaHClO) wasapplied to eliminate the remained lignin. The results of chemical characterization revealed thathemicellulose and lignin were completely removed from the structure of cellulose. Thepercentage of cellulose in treated fibers’ structure was 89.6%. In the mechanical process todisintegrate fibers to nano scale, an ultrasonication (400 W) and a super grinder were used. TheSEM analysis showed that the diameter of extracted nano whiskers ranged between 15-35 nm.

Poplar fiber, Cellulose, Nano whisker, Chemo-mechanical process, Super grinder