Pulping and pretreatment affect the characteristics of bagasse inks for 3D printing

CHINGA-CARRASCO, GARY; EHMAN, N.; PETTERSSON, J.; VALLEJOS, M.E.; BRODIN, MALIN; FELISSIA F.E.; HAKANSSON, JOAKIM; AREA, M.C.

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

ACS

Lugar: Austin; Año: 2018

Bagasse is an under-utilized agro-industrial residue with great potential as a raw material for the production of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), for a range of applications. In this study, we have assessed the suitability of bagasse for production of CNF for three-dimensional (3D) printing. Firstly, fibers were obtained from the bagasse raw material using two fractionation methods, i.e. soda, and hot water treatment combined with soda. Secondly, the pulps fibers were pre-treated with TEMPO TEMPO-mediated oxidation using two levels of oxidation for comparison purposes. Finally, the CNFs were characterized in detail and assessed as inks for 3D printing. The results show that CNF produced from fibers obtained through a hot water and soda pulping were less nanofribrillated than the corresponding material produced through soda pulping. However, the CNF sample obtained from the soda pulp was cytotoxic, apparently due to a larger content of silica particles. All the materials were 3D printable. We conclude that the non-cytotoxic CNF produced through a hot water and soda treatment can potentially be used as inks for 3D printing of biomedical devices.