The effect of acid concentration on the physical structure of
the plant material can be seen in the SEM images in Fig. 4.
The SEM image (B) in Fig. 4 shows that almost all the cellulose
parts of the plant structure had been removed;
exposing the some hemicellulose still present as well as some
lignin fibrils. The extent to which lignin was dissolved during
acid treatment is shown on the FT-IR analysis in Fig. 5.
The identified peaks on the FT-IR spectrum is summarised in
Table 3.