Environmental concerns due to excessive use of synthetic or petroleum-based materials have encouraged scientists to develop novel, sustainable, and multifunctional material using abundant lignocellulosic biomass. In this work, a study was conducted on the isolation of cellulose from wheat straw using two different methods: acidified sodium chlorite and alkaline hydrogen peroxide. A comparative study was carried out based on the yield and properties of extracted cellulose. The final product (after treatments) was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the identification of properties. Both the treatments isolated pure white color cellulose. However, the yield of cellulose isolated through acidified sodium chlorite treatment (81.4%) was higher than alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment (79%). Moreover, no huge difference was observed in the crystallinity and thermal properties of extracted cellulose.

Microfiltration flat sheet membranes of polyether sulfone (PES) were fabricated by incorporating varying concentrations of polymer and investigated the influence of substituting solvents. The membranes were prepared via immersion precipitation method. Different solvents that included NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), DMF (dimethylformamide), and THF (tetrahydrofuran) were used to analyse their effect on the performance and morphology of the prepared membranes. Two different coagulation bath temperatures were used to investigate the kinetics of membrane formation and subsequent effect on membrane performance. The maximum water flux of 141 ml/cm².h was observed using 21% of PES concentration in NMP + THF cosolvent system. The highest tensile strength of 29.15 MPa was observed using membrane prepared with 21% PES concentration in NMP as solvent and coagulation bath temperature of 25°C. The highest hydraulic membrane resistance was reported for membrane prepared with 21% PES concentration in NMP as solvent. Moreover, the lowest contact angle of 67° was observed for membrane prepared with 15% of PES concentration in NMP as solvent with coagulation bath temperature of 28°C. Furthermore, the Hansen solubility parameter was used to study the effect on the thermodynamics of membrane formation and found to be in good correlation with experimental observation and approach in the present work.