Water hyacinth as feedstock for bio-cellulose polymers: Potential energetic materials and life cycle assessment for military sustainability

A vital component in military-grade propellants, nitrocellulose (NC) is still mostly imported from Indonesia as domestic availability of premium cellulose sources like cotton linters is so limited. Especially under international systems like the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), this reliance creates major strategic and financial weaknesses. In response, this study looks at the viability of using fast-growing, extremely invasive aquatic plant common in Rawa Pening, Indonesia, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), as a sustainable and locally plentiful alternative for NC manufacturing. High-purity α-cellulose (93.20 ± 0.18 %) was effectively achieved by means of an environmentally acceptable extraction method including organosolv pretreatment, alkaline hydrolysis, and bleaching. With a nitrogen concentration of 13.43 %, great thermal stability, and high solubility (98.19 %), the synthetic NC displayed military-grade qualities. With significant effects on Human Health (355.28), Ecosystems (30.45), and Resource Depletion (1.26), a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) done using the ReCiPe 2016H End-Point approach found the stability phase as the most environmentally intensive step. These results highlight the need of focused process optimization to raise general sustainability level. In the end, this study shows the possible environmental and strategic benefits of water hyacinth as a suitable, eco-friendly feedstock for domestic NC manufacture.