From pine sawdust to cellulose nanofibers

EHMAN, NANCI VANESA; TARRÉS, QUIM; DELGADO AGUILAR, MARC; VALLEJOS, MARÍA EVANGELINA; FELISSIA, FERNANDO ESTEBAN; AREA, MARIA CRISTINA; MUTJÉ, PERE

CELLULOSE CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY

EDITURA ACAD ROMANE

Lugar: RUMANIA; Año: 2016 vol. 50 p. 361 - 367

0576-9787

Biorefinerytechnology is an actual alternative to petroleum based industry to produceenergy, chemicals and materials. The conversion of forest and agriculturallignocellulosic residues to high value added products has become importantbecause of their renewable nature and high availability as raw materials. Thepine sawdust is a promissory candidate as raw material in a biorefinery. Thiswaste from the primary industrialization of wood is available in largequantities and low cost, and is currently open-air burned. The aim of thisstudy was to obtain nanofibrillated cellulose (CNF) from pine sawdust. Forthat, delignification methods for the bleaching of the raw material to kappabelow 1 were used. CNF was produced by the combination of chemical(TEMPO-oxidation) pretreatment and mechanical (homogenizer) desestructuration.The effect of different quantities of sodium hypochlorite in TEMPO-oxidation pretreatmentin the characteristics of resulting CNF was evaluated. The degree ofpolymerization, cationic demand, carboxyl rate, nanofibrillation yield wasstudied, as well as the specific surface and the diameter of the cellulosenanofibers was estimated. On the other hand, the effectiveness of CNF asreinforcement in papermaking and it cost of production also were studied.