Optimization of acid hydrolysis process for the preparation cellulose nanofibrils

MELINA BRACONE; LEANDRO LUDUEÑA; VERA ALVAREZ

Mar del Plata

Simposio; XVI Latin-American Polymer Symposium (SLAP 2018), XIV Iberoamerican Polymer Congress (CIP 2018); 2018

Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA)

Cellulose is the main component of several natural fibers and agricultural byproducts such as sisal, cotton, and flax fibers, corn stover and rice husk within others. Cellulose microfibrils (CMF) are conformed by nanocrystalline domains and amorphous cellulose regions [1]. The nanocrystalline domains are often called cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) showing diameters of 5-50 nm and lengths of several millimeters. A controlled acid hydrolysis can separate both regions driving to crystalline domains with an elastic modulus of 150 GPa, which is higher than that of the S-glass (85 GPa) and Aramid fibers (65 GPa) [2]. In addition, it can be found in the literature [2] that cellulose nanofibrils have improved mechanical performances in comparison with CMF. The aim of this work was to establish a correlation between the acid hydrolysis conditions (acid concentration, time and temperature) and the final characteristics of CNF obtained from commercial CMF supplied by Sigma Aldrich.