IMAGE PROCESSING AND PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS OF COCONUT SHELL NANOPARTICLES

The efficacy of coconut Shell nanoparticle (CS-NPs) in any application either as activated carbon, filler, or reinforcement depend absolutely on if the particle is in the form of macro-, micro-, and nano- particles. It has been established by various authors that investigated the effect of milling on particles size that reductions in particle size improve mechanical properties, absorption rate, and morphological characteristics. Coconut Shell nanoparticles (CS-NPs) has been studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses. The SEM magnifications were taking at 1.00kx which gives 50 µm at varying milling time of 0, 20, 40 and 60 Mins. A digitalized mechanical vibratory disc milling machine was used for the grinding of the Coconut Shell. In this study, processing of SEM images has been carried out using ImageJ software by the method of thresholding segmentation. The processing was carried out to determine the foreground from a background of the CS-NPs, this enhanced visual perception and a better understanding of the Images at the same time high resolutions and better quality of the final result of the analysis were achieved. It was revealed that at 0 minutes which has been taken as 75 µm sieved, the highest values for the mean particle area was found to be 16.105 µm2 and its area standard deviation at that point was found to be 200.738 µm2which gives the least value for a number of particle size distribution as 809 µm. However, 60 minutes milling time was noted to have the least mean particle area with area standard deviation value of 8.945 µm2 and the highest value for the number of particle size was recorded at the point to be 2032 µm. In overall, milling time is directly proportional to the increasing number of particle size distribution and inversely proportional to the area of particle size.