Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Scientific Programme and
Book of Abstracts
Workshop
Science and uses of
nanocellulose &
Cellulose foams and
films
March 5-6, 2014
Biocomposites Centre, Bangor, UK
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Edited by: Åsa Östlund, Emma Östmark and Dennis Jones SP Wood Technology SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Drottning Kristinas väg 67 SE-114 28 Stockholm, Sweden www.sp.se
ISBN: 978-91-87461-58-3
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Scientific
Programme
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Day 1. Wednesday 5th
March 2014
09:00 Registration
09:30 Åsa Östlund (SP, SE) and Graham Ormondroyd (BC, UK)
Welcome and introduction
Dennis Jones (SP, SE)
Brief overview of open calls in Horizon 2020
KEYNOTE LECTURE
10:00 Derek Gray (McGill University, Canada)
Nanocellulosic materials
11:00 Coffee
SESSION 1: ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Industrial potential
11:30 Stefan Veigel (BOKU, AT)
Application potential of nanocellulose in the wood industry
11:50 Sara di Lonardo (National Research Council, Institute of Biometereology, IT)
Cellulosic neglected materials as potential resources for local industries
12:10 Magnus Gimåker (Innventia, SE)
Production of MFC and its uses at Innventia
12:30 Lunch
SESSION 1 (continued): ORAL PRESENTATIONS
14:00 José Alberto Méndez (Univ Girona LEPAMAP, ES)
LEPAMAP group research lines
14:20 Fabiola Vilaseca (Univ Girona LEPAMAP, ES)
Use of NFC in papermaking applications
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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POSTER PRESENTATIONS
14:40 Poster presentations are listed on the last page
15:15 Coffee and Posters
SESSION 2: ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Environmental evaluations
16:00 Giovanni Emiliani (National Research Council, Institute of Biometereology, IT)
Influence of genotype and environmental variables in determining the physico-chemical
properties of lignocelllulosic material derived from cultivated trees
16:20 Janka Dibdiakova (Skog og Landskap, NO)
LCA from the point of view of comparing a regenerated cellulose fibre with a textile fibre
16:40 Callum Hill (JCH Industrial Ecology, UK)
Environmental impacts associated with regenerated cellulose products
17:00 End of Day 1
19:00 Drinks reception and poster session
20:00 Conference Dinner
Day 2. Thursday 6th
March 2014
08:45 Arrival and coffee
SESSION 3: ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Modification and microstructure
09:15 Jesus Ambrosio-Martin (IATA-CSIC ES)
Melt polycondensation to improve the dispersion of bacterial cellulose into polylactide via
melt compounding. Enhancing barrier and mechanical properties
09:35 Elena Vismara (Politecnico di Milano, IT)
Glycidylmethacrylate Cellulose-based Nanosponge: a Forecast for Glycidylmethacrylate
Nanocellulose Preparation and Use?
09:55 Samuel Eyley (KU Leuven, BE)
A simple one-pot route to cationic cellulose nanocrystals
10:15 Yuval Nevo (The Hebrew College of Jerusalem, IL): Nanocrystalline
cellulose/nanoparticles (NCC/NPs); Light tunable reinforced plastic sheets
10:35 Coffee and Posters
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
11:15 National Presentations
11:45 Open discussion on calls in Horizon 2020, defining areas of „weakness‟
Future meetings – focus themes, venues etc.
12:30 End of Workshop
Lunch
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
Limited to registered national MC members and substitutes
14:00 Åsa Östlund (SP, SE), Wim Thielemans (KU Leuven, BE) and Dennis Jones (SP, SE)
MC3 meeting (agenda to be sent to MC members separately)
15:30
approx End of meeting
Coffee
Departure
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Poster presentations
Christos Nitsos (Aristotle Univ, EL): Methods for selective fragmentation of lignocellulosic
wastes and production of (nano)cellulose with improved valorization potential
Arnis Treimanis (Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, LV): Preparation and
Characterisation of Bacterial NanoCellulose
Miriam Ribul (Chelsea College of Art and Design, UK): Design possibilities in regenerated
cellulose materials (STSM presentation)
Hanna de la Motte (SP, SE): Increased reactivity and new applications for recycled cotton
textiles by controlled characterization
Vanja Kokol (Univ. Maribor, SI): The effect of nanocellulose on mechanical and barrier
properties of soy-protein plasticized multi-layer films
Anders Thygesen (DTU, DK): Fungal defibration of hemp fibres for cellulose isolation (STSM
presentation)
Natalia Quijorna Kyburz (University of Cantabria, ES): Simulation and Optimization of
sulfite process to obtain dissolving pulp and valuable products from spent sulfite liquor
Valentina Coccia (Univ. of Perugia, IT)
Cellulose nanocrystals obtained from cynara cardunculus: lab procedure, SEM analysis, and
optical properties
Selestina Gorgieva (Univ. Maribor, SI): The effect of cellulose-nanofibers phosphorylation,
organic solvent content and cryo-parameters on scaffold micro-structuring
Amit Rivkin (The Hebrew College of Jerusalem, IL): A new route towards the insertion of
nano crystalline cellulose into epoxy resins via recombinant proteins and construction of novel
bio-nano-composites
Daniel Hewson (Univ. Exeter, UK): Optical properties of cellulose nanocrystal mesogenic
phases in thin films (STSM presentation)
Tiffany Abitbol (The Hebrew College of Jerusalem, IL): Surface modification of cellulose
nanocrystals with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide
Jeremie Brand (Univ. Bordeaux, FR): Chemical functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals for
photovoltaic applications
Krystyna Cieśla (Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, PL): The influence of
ionising radiation on nanocellulose and the biodegradable films containing nanocellulose
Tim Liebert (Univ of Jena, DE): Studies on the tosylation of cellulose in mixtures of ionic
liquids and a co-solvent
Stephen Eichhorn (Univ. Exeter, UK): Structural colour using cellulose nanofibres
Kay Hettrich (Fraunhofer Inst., DE): Preparation and characterization of nano-cellulose
Nir Peer (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem IL): Robust biodegradable optically tunable
NCC sheets
Zeki Candan (Istanbul University, TU): Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) of
nanocellulose reinforced urea-formaldehyde resin
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Participants List
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Name Affiliation Country Email
Bruno Andersons Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry Latvia [email protected]
Thomas Rosenau Universität für Bodenkultur Austria [email protected]
Stefan Veigel Universität für Bodenkultur Austria [email protected]
Wim Thielemans K.U. Leuven Belgium [email protected]
Samuel Eyley K.U. Leuven Belgium [email protected]
Derek Gray McGill University Canada [email protected]
Anders Thygesen Danish Technical University Denmark [email protected]
Anand Ramesh Sanadi University of Copenhagen Denmark [email protected]
Soren Barberg University of Copenhagen Denmark [email protected]
Pedro Fardim Åbo Akademi University Finland [email protected]
Jeremie Brand University of Bordeaux France [email protected]
Gilles Sebe University of Bordeaux France [email protected]
Patrick Navard Mines ParisTech France [email protected]
Kay Hettrich Fraunhofer-Institut Germany [email protected]
Tim Liebert Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena Germany [email protected]
Christos Nitsos Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece [email protected]
Emilia Csiszar Budapest University of Technology and Economics Hungary [email protected]
Witold Kwapinski University of Limerick Ireland [email protected]
Tiffany Abitbol The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel [email protected]
Doron Kam The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel [email protected]
Sigal Meirovitch Valentis Nanotech Ltd Israel [email protected]
Yuval Nevo The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel [email protected]
Nir Peer The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel [email protected]
Amit Rivkin The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel [email protected]
Valentina Coccia University of Perugia Italy [email protected]
Sara di Lonardo CNR IVALSA Italy [email protected]
Elena Vismara Politecnico di Milano Italy [email protected]
Giovanni Emiliani CNR IVALSA Italy [email protected]
Elisabetta Feci CNR IVALSA Italy [email protected]
Arnis Tremainis Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry Latvia [email protected]
Janka Dibdiakova Skog og Landskap Norway [email protected]
Grzegorz Kowaluk Warsaw University of Life Sciences Poland [email protected]
Krystyna Cieśla Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology Poland [email protected]
Carmen-Mihaela Popescu "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Romania [email protected]
Maria Cristina Popescu "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Romania [email protected]
Alena Siskova Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences Slovakia [email protected]
Selestina Gorgieva University of Maribor Slovenia [email protected]
Vanja Kokol University of Maribor Slovenia [email protected]
Primoz Oven University of Ljubljana Slovenia [email protected]
Fabiola Vilaseca University of Girona Spain [email protected]
José Alberto MÉNDEZ University of Girona Spain [email protected]
Jesus Ambrosio-Martin IATA-CSIC Spain [email protected]
Amparo Lopez-Rubio IATA-CSIC Spain [email protected]
Natalia Quijorna University of Cantabria Spain [email protected]
Hanna de la Motte SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Sweden [email protected]
Magnus Gimåker Innventia Sweden [email protected]
Åsa Östlund SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Sweden [email protected]
Dennis Jones SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Sweden [email protected]
Philippe Tingaut EMPA [email protected]
Zeki Candan Istanbul University Turkey [email protected]
Daniel Hewson University of Exeter UK [email protected]
Miriam Ribul Chelsea College of Arts UK [email protected]
Callum Hill JCH Industrial Ecology Limited UK [email protected]
Stephen Eichhorn University of Exeter UK [email protected]
Graham Ormondroyd Biocomposites Centre UK [email protected]
Qiuyun Liu Biocomposites Centre UK [email protected]
Simon Curling Biocomposites Centre UK [email protected]
John Flahatey Greenerpol UK [email protected]
Rob Rodnenburg Viscose closures UK [email protected]
Jackie Royall Viscose closures UK [email protected]
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Abstracts
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Day 1. Wednesday 5th of March
Keynote lecture
Nanocellulosic Materials
Derek Gray
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Canada, e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Cellulose, the most abundant material in the biosphere, may be processed to give materials with
one or more dimensions in the nanometer range. The primary interest in these materials is as
reinforcement for polymers and biocomposites, but they display some other interesting
properties. Cellulose nanocrystals (rod-shaped particles of crystalline cellulose I prepared from
natural cellulose fibres) form stable aqueous colloidal suspensions with chiral nematic properties.
These suspensions also display the optical properties of the familiar cholesteric liquid crystals,
but contain up to 95% water. The order observed in the suspensions is maintained when the
water is removed by evaporation, leading to iridescent solid films. Many other applications have
been proposed for this sustainable and green family of materials.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Session 1: Oral presentations
Application potential of nanocellulose in the wood industry
Stefan Veigel and Wolfgang Gindl-Altmutter
Institute of Wood Science and Technology, BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Vienna, Konrad Lorenz Straße 24, 3430 Tulln, Austria. E: [email protected]
Keywords: adhesive bonding, coating, mechanical properties, nanocellulose, reinforcement
ABSTRACT
In wood industry, high volumes of polymers are used in adhesive bonding and coating. Bonding
of solid wood and wood particles is a key issue in the manufacturing of numerous wood products.
A high bonding strength under both static and dynamic loads is one of the most important
requirements a wood-adhesive bond has to fulfil. Aminoplastic adhesives on the basis of urea-
formaldehyde (UF) and melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) which are currently the most
widely used adhesives in wood industry can only partly meet this demand. The high elastic
modulus of cured aminoplastic bondlines induces high stress concentrations within the bondline
which significantly reduce the overall strength of the bonding. In the presented study, cellulose
nanofibers were added to commercial wood adhesives in order to generate a fiber-reinforced
adhesive with a markedly higher ductility and therefore improved bonding strength. Highly
significant positive effects on mechanical bond stability are reported for commonly used UF-
adhesives. It is shown that both solid wood adhesion and wood composite production can profit
from the addition of only a few percent nanocellulose. With regard to wood coating, modern
coating materials must comply with a wide range of requirements. For interior use, the physical
protection of the wood surface (e.g. wear and scratch resistance, surface hardness) is of prime
importance. Due to an increasing environmental and health awareness during the last two
decades, water-based coating systems were prevailing more and more over solvent based
systems. The market share of waterborne wood coatings is expected to further increase due to
increasingly stringent regulations concerning the release of volatile organic compounds (VOC).
Although waterborne systems show good performance in the furniture and flooring industry,
there is a need for further improvement of mechanical coating properties. Therefore, a
preliminary study assessing the feasibility of using cellulose nanofibrils as well as nanocrystals as
an additive for wood coatings was carried out. Nanocellulose was added to a waterborne furniture
varnish in a concentration of up to 2 wt%. It was found that both the rheological properties of the
liquid coating and the physical properties of coated wood surfaces were strongly affected by the
additive. The most obvious improvements were found for scratch resistance, surface modulus and
hardness. Additionally the mechanics of dried waterborne coating films were significantly
improved by fibrillated cellulose. Due to its mechanical reinforcement potential nanocellulose
offers numerous perspectives of application in terms of improved bio-based solutions for existing
materials or in completely new materials.
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Cellulosic neglected materials as a potential resource for local industries
Sara Di Lonardo
Institute of Biometeorology-National Research Council (IBIMET-CNR), Via G. Caproni 8, 50145 Firenze, Italy. E: [email protected]
Keywords: renewable by-products, eco-sustainability, natural fibres.
ABSTRACT
Utilising natural neglected byproducts or “waste” as sources for natural cellulose is becoming
increasingly necessary due to concerns on both the future price and availability of the natural and
synthetic materials in current use: in addition, problems associated with disposing the byproducts
after harvest could be reduced if these materials are used for industrial applications. Moreover, in
order to reduce the trash collection and disposal fees, new methods and policies for waste
handling and treatment have been recently introduced (Riggi and Avola 2010) to recover, recycle
and convert the by-products and wastes into upgraded products (Federici et al. 2009, Laufenberg
et al. 2003, Rousu et al. 2002).
Among wastes coming from agro-food-textile manufacturing, the fibres represent sizeable and
functional component. In particular natural fibres, such as jute, kenaf, flax, hemp, and agriculture
residues including stalks of most crops, are becoming very attractive as reinforcing fibres of
biocomposites. Natural fibres coming from wastes of agro-food industries manufacturing
companies provide environmental and technological profits when used to reinforce composites
both in terms of high strength and stiffness performance in low density materials, and in terms of
positive environmental impact (Lopez et al. 2012, Uma Devi et al. 2004).
In this context, IBIMET-CNR is working with natural matters from terrestrial/agricultural and
marine environment to characterise these materials for industrial uses. The characterisation of the
available cellulosic neglected byproducts or “waste” finalised to technical uses was the first step.
The work has been focused on material derived by nettle, broom, hop, Artemisia, Stevia and
Posidonia, all plant used for different purposes or present in Tuscany Region (Italy).
REFERENCES
Federici, F., Fava, F., Kalogerakis, N., and Mantzavinosc, D. (2009) Valorisation of agro-
industrial by-products, effluents and waste: concept, opportunities and the case of olive mill
wastewaters. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 84, 895-900.
Laufenberg, G., Kunz, B., and Nystroem, M. (2003) Transformation of vegetable waste into
value added products: (A) the upgrading concept; (B) practical implementations. Bioresource
Technology, 87, 167-198.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Lopez, J.P., Vilaseca, F., Barberà, L., Bayer, R.J., Pèlach, M.A., and Mutjé, P. (2012) Processing
and properties of biodegradable composites based on Mater-Bi® and hemp core fibres.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 59, 38-42.
Riggi, E. and Avola, G. (2010) Quantification of the waste stream from fresh tomato
packinghouses and its fluctuations: Implications for waste management planning. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 54, 436-441.
Rousu, P., Rousu, P., and Anttila, J. (2002) Sustainable pulp production from agricultural waste.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 35, 85-103.
Uma Devi, L., Kuruvila, J., Manikandan Nair, K.C., and Sabu, T. (2004) Ageing studies of
pineapple leaf fiber–reinforced polyester composites. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 94,
503-510.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Production of MFC and its uses at Innventia
Magnus Gimåker
Innventia AB, Drottning Kristinas väg 61 Stockholm, Sweden E: [email protected]
Keywords: renewable by-products, eco-sustainability, natural fibres.
ABSTRACT
In 2011, Innventia opened the world's first pilot plant for the production of nanocellulose, which
has a capacity of 100 kg/day. The facility (Figure 1) makes it possible to produce nanocellulose
on a large scale for the first time and is an important step towards the industrialisation of this
technology. Having the capability to produce larger volumes means it is now possible to study
the use of nanocellulose in applications that demand significant amounts of material.
The pilot facility's connection to the existing pilot-scale processing equipment at Innventia,
which includes screens, refiners, fractionation equipment, not to mention a paper machine, makes
it a unique testing and production unit. It provides exceptional resources to work towards the
commercialisation of nanocellulose applications.
Figure 1: Production facilities at Innventia
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LEPAMAP group. Research lines
José Alberto Méndez, Fabiola Vilaseca, M. Àngels Pèlach, Josep Puig, Pere Mutjé
LEPAMAP group. University of Girona. EPS, building PI, C/. Maria Aurèlia Capmany 61, 17071, Girona,
Spain. E: [email protected]
Keywords: Bacterial celllulose, cellulose reinforced composites, lignin, nanopaper, NFC, physical-chemical characterisation
ABSTRACT
The LEPAMAP group of the University of Girona is a multidisciplinary research group based on
chemists, biologists and engineers, focusing their research work in materials science based on
lignocellulose. This research is performed in 10 laboratories or units as showed in the following
table.
L-1, Laboratory of chemistry and technology of fibrous materials
L-2, Laboratory of nanopaper
L-3, Laboratory of secondary fibres
L-4, Laboratory of paper biotechnology and nanotechnology
L-5, Laboratory of all lignocellulosic composites
L-6, Laboratory of composite materials
L-7, Laboratory of chemical and biochemical technology
L-8, Laboratory of assays
L-9, Laboratory of life cycle analysis
L-10, Laboratory of food contact
Our research lines include from the acquisition and characterisation of the raw material
(hard/softwood, annual plant, agroforest residues, recycled paper, mechanical pulp) until the
application of the fibres (micro and nano scale), passing through the processing of NFC and
biobiting and the incorporation of the fibres inside the substrate (mainly thermoplastic polymer
matrices and paper). - (L-1) (R.R*.: Neus Pellicer) The raw materials, mainly agroforestal residues, are processed by
different ways in order to obtain lignocellulosic pulps with high yield (80% or higher) using
different chemical approaches. The pulps are characterised to determine the chemical properties
and the properties of the derived papers. This unit also provides fibres to units L-4, L-5, L-6 and
L-7.
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- (L-2) (R.R. Pere Mutjé) Fabrication of nanopaper and hybrids. Nanopaper is considered a paper
with a NFC content higher than 50 %wt. Hybrids are obtained by incorporation of virgin
cellulose fibres, refined or non-refined, depending on the application. L-2 also produces modified
nanopapers with special properties: electrical, magnetical, antimicrobial and others, by
incorporation of specific components: nanotubs, metallic particles, nanocarbonates and peptides.
The material is provided by L-4 and L-7.
- (L-3) (R.R.: M.A. Pèlach) Production of lignocellulose fibres from recycled paper, friendlier
with the environment. This research is justified by the increasing percentage of recycled fibres in
new paper products (more than 50% wt).
- (L-4) (R.R.: Pere Mutjé) Fabrication of papers by means of alternative techniques: Bulk
modification (NFC incorporation and biobiting), increase of their mineral content and surface
treatment (NFC and nanofillers, dry-strength agents). - (L-5) (R.R.: Gerard Arbat) Development of all lignocellulosic materials by using just own
lignin, coming from agroforestal residues (mainly cereal straws), as bioadhesive. To improve of
mechanical properties, the materials are modified with kraft lignin and NFC produced in L-7. The
production is based on a wet procedure and thermoconforming.
- (L-6) (R.R.: Xavier Espinach/Fernando Julián) Development of composite materials
reinforced/loaded with lignocellulosic fibres (strands, wood fibres, agroforestal residues, wood
dust and mineral reinforcements). This reinforcement is incorporated into thermoplastic
biodegradable and non-biodegradable polymer matrices. The processing is based on a kinetic
mixing process and transformation by injection-moulding or extrusion. This unit also includes the
characterisation of the obtained materials as well as its valorisation in a final piece by "rapid
prototyping".
- (L-7) (R.R.: Fabiola Vilaseca/José Alberto Méndez) (L-7.1) Production and characterisation of
NFC coming from wood fibres, annual plants and agroforestal residues. NFC produced in this
unit acts as raw material in L-2, L-4 and L-5. (L-7.2) Production of bacterial cellulose. Coming soon: Chemical modification of NFC for specific applications and valorisation as
biomaterials for biomedical applications. This unit also acts a laboratory of microscale for nanopaper production prior to L-2 up-scaling.
- (L-8) (R.R.: Manel Alcalà/M. Àngels Pèlach) Laboratory of physical-chemical assays:
mechanical, optical, electrical and magnetical properties. Moreover characterisation of specific
properties: barrier and antibacterial properties, water uptake and thermal and acoustic isolation. - (L-9) (R.R.: Marc Delgado-Aguilar/X Espinach/Joan Pujol) Unit of life cycle analysis of the
produced materials, comparing it with that of those of existing materials in the market. - (L-10) (R.R.: Josep Puig) Laboratory of food contact focused in the characterisation of paper
products to be used in contact with aliments. Resuming, LEPAMAP group is a fully integrated research group to tackle the exploitation of the
countless possibilities of use of cellulose, from a micro as well as nano point of view.
*R.R.: Responsible researcher.
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Use of NFC in papermaking applications
González, I.; Alcalà, M.; Pèlach, M.A.; Vilaseca, F.; Mutjé, P.
LEPAMAP Group, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Girona, C/ M. Aurèlia Capmany, 61, 17071 Girona (Spain)
During the coming years, paper industry will need to implement different strategies in order to
prevent the use of large amounts of virgin cellulosic fiber, for the sake of saving forest resources.
According to recent literature, the forthcoming strategies will be mainly to convert recycling a
central part of paper activities, the diminishing of basis weight of paper-based products, and the
major use of fillers instead of fiber content in the paper formulation.
Among these approaches, it is expected that the use of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) will
become a real fact in paper industry. NFC can be applied in bulk during paper production or on
paper surface at the last steps of papermaking. The addition of NFC as component of paper
formulation, intended to enlarge paper strength, has to be done at moderate levels otherwise the
drainage of the suspension is hindered, and so the runnability during paper production. In order to
overcome this problem, some alternatives can be employed, such as the use of biobeating
followed by the addition of minor amounts of NFC in the formulation. This procedure has given
out reasonable results when applied to bleached hardwood and softwood pulps, as well as to
secondary fibers or to fibers from agricultural residues. Another possibility is related to the use of
NFC on paper surface as dry strengthening agent. For this purpose, porous paper structures seem
to favor the effect of NFC.
In this work, several alternatives are proposed as substitutes of classic mechanical beating.
Therefore, increasing amounts of NFC has been applied to non-beating fiber substrates. The
paper strength of the paper was improved, and the drainability of the suspension was controlled
following different options. It was demonstrated that mechanical beating can be partly replaced,
and that this prevents the energy consumption during papermaking as well as the damaging of
cellulose fibers, which is a very important aspect especially when they are submitted to
subsequent recycling loops.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Poster presentations
Methods for selective fragmentation of lignocellulosic wastes and production of (nano) cellulose with improved valorization potential
Christos Nitsos, Konstantinos Matis, Konstantinos Triantafyllidis*
Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, E-mail:[email protected]
Keywords: fractionation, hydrothermal, lignocellulose, (nano)cellulose, products,
ABSTRACT
Lignocellulosic biomass has been envisaged as an alternative and sustainable feedstock for the
production of energy, chemicals, and materials through processes that can supplement or replace
the typical petrochemical refinery. The development of efficient and selective methods for the
separation of the three major biomass components is necessary for the creation of product
streams of added value.
In the current work we have applied a hydrothermal biomass treatment method, performed in a
batch autoclave reactor at relatively conditions. Temperatures up to 220 oC and times up to 180
min were employed. Around 40 wt% of the biomass components can be solubilised in this
manner with the majority being hemicellulose, with cellulose and lignin being only slightly
affected by the pretreatment at these conditions. This enables the selective removal of
hemicellulose from the biomass and its subsequent recovery in the process liquids in the form of
mainly xylose and xylan oligosaccharides. A maximum yield of 60 wt% xylan can be achieved in
this manner at a logRo (severity factor combining the effect of temperature and time of the
hydrothermal process) value of 3.81 (i.e. 190 oC, 15min). The formation of dehydration products,
such as furfural and HMF is kept relatively low at these conditions.
The physicochemical properties of biomass are also greatly affected by the hydrothermal
treatment process. As can be seen in Table 1 the crystallinity of the material is increased from
74% in the pristine biomass to as high as 88% in the hydrothermally treated samples (resembling
that of the commercial cellulose sample-Avicel) due to the removal of the more amorphous
hemicellulose. Both the porosity and external surface area of the biomass are also increased by a
factor of around 2.5 due to the removal of material from the solid biomass particles.
Table 1: Physicochemical characteristics of pristine biomass and selected hydrothermally treated solid
samples. Commercial microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel) values presented for comparison reasons
Sample Crystallinity
Index
(%)
Specific
Surface Area
(m2
g-1
)
Total Pore
Volume
(cm3
g-1
)
Pristine biomass 74.1 0.59 0.005
190 o
C - 15min 88.1 1.34 0.012
220 o
C - 15min 88.4 1.54 0.010
Avicel* 91.5 0.93 0.006
*Microcrystalline cellulose
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Although lignin stays largely in the solid biomass particle, it is both chemically and structurally
affected by the hydrothermal process. More specifically a portion of lignin is removed from the
elementary fibril and is relocated on the biomass surface, via sequential hydrolysis and
recondensation reactions (Figure 1)
Figure 1: Photos and SEM images of lignocellulosic biomass after hydrothermal treatment, and after selective
removal of lignin with organic solvents.
This lignin can be selectively and easily removed from the hydrothermally treated biomass via a
mild solvent extraction process, recovered and used as a source of phenolic molecules. The
extraction efficiency of lignin is related to the type of organic solvent used and can lead to an
increase in the cellulose content of the remaining biomass particles as high as 95%. These
purified particles have increased amenability to enzymatic digestion compared to the pristine
biomass or the hydrothermally treated solids. In addition, due to the various physical-chemical
treatment steps the resulting (nano)cellulose exhibits improved morphological and textural
characteristics for its use as polymer (nano)filler or as organic template for the formation of
hybrid inorganic (ca. silica) - organic hydrid meso/macrostructures and finally of the respective
high surface meso/macroporous silicas with hierarchical porosity and potential application as
adsorptive or catalytic materials.
REFERENCES
Gomez, L.D., Steele-King, C.G.and McQueen-Mason, S.J., (2008) Sustainable liquid biofuels
from biomass: the writing's on the walls. New Phytologist, 178(3), 473.
Garrote, G., Dominguez, H., and Parajo, J.C., (1999) Hydrothermal processing of lignocellulosic
materials. Holz als Roh- und Werkstoff, 57(3), 191.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
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Preparation and Characterisation of Bacterial NanoCellulose
Arnis Treimanis, Lubova Belkova, Rita Treimane*, Laura Vikele, Inese Sable, Marite Skute
Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, 27 Dzerbenes Street, Riga LV-1006, Latvia
*Latvia University, Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 4 Kronvalda bulv., Riga LV-1010, Latvia. E: [email protected]
Keywords: Bacterial cellulose, films, FTIR spectroscopy,mechanical properties, nanocellulose, microscopy.
ABSTRACT
Bacterial cellulose BC is an emerging nanomaterial with unique properties. Bacterial cellulose is
an exopolysaccharide produced by genera Komagataeibacter (previously known as
Gluconabacter). In contrast to the microfibrillated cellulose MFC bacterial cellulose is not
produced from existing cellulose by chemical or mechanical methods. Microfibrillar structure of
BC is responsible for most of its properties such as high tensile strength, degree of
polymerisation and crystallinity degree (Gamma, Gatenholm and Klemm 2012). It possess also
good biological affinity.
BC was produced by Komagataeibacter hansenii strain isolated from Kombucha symbiotic
association. The basic growth medium used for the strain was Hestrin and Schramm medium
which consisted of glucose, peptone, yeast extract, phosphate and citric acid. The cultures were
grown at 30 oC for 7 days. The cellulose had to be purified by treatment with alkali.
This time the samples of BC were prepared in the form of thin films with thickness 40-400 µm.
Drying was performed by solvent exchange water – methanol - hexane. The fibrils were strictly
oriented in lamellas while different lamella could differ among themselves in terms of fibrils‟
orientation. Fibril length was estimated to be 1÷50 µm, fibril width 100÷150 nm. The tensile
strength index of the obtained BC films was found to be between 176 and 240 Nm/g. The films
tensile strength values evidently depended on the fibril direction.
The swelling degree and water uptake indices of the BC films were rather high. These parameters
reached 655 – 850%. For comparison, wood pulp fibres have reached the water uptake (WRV)
values around 140%. It is remarkable that the water uptake ability increased with extending time.
FTIR spectra of the samples evidenced that the BC samples possess high cellulose crystallinity
degree. The values are higher as compared to the nanocellulose obtained by thermocatalytic
method and close to that of regenerated cellulose obtained from ionic liquids (Zakaria et al.
2011). The spectra may reveal the residues of bacteria by detecting amide groups.
REFERENCES
Gamma, M., Gatenholm, P., Klemm, D. editors (2012). Bacterial Nanocellulose: A
Sophisticated Multifunctional Material, 304 pages, published by CRC Press.
Zakaria M., et. al. (2011). Preparation of cellulose nanocrystals using an ionic liquid. J. Polym
Environ, 19, 726-731.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
21
Cellulose opportunities and applications within the MISTRA Future Fashion program
Hanna de la Motte, Miriam Ribul
Applied Surface Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivagen 10, 412 96 Goteborg, Sweden. E: [email protected]
SP Trä, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Box 857, 501 15 Boras, Sweden. E: [email protected]
TED Research, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, 16 John Islip Street, London SW1P 4RJ, United Kingdom. E: [email protected]
Keywords: applications, cellulose, cotton, design, fashion, interdisciplinary, recycling
ABSTRACT
The MISTRA Future Fashion Program is an international consortium of eight research projects
that each contribute with their knowledge towards a more sustainable and globally competitive
Swedish Fashion Industry. The projects combine leading Swedish and international research
institutes and universities with other stakeholders from governmental agencies, voluntary
organizations, and companies within the whole textile value chain: forestry; pulping; textile
manufacturing; recycling. It also aims to build up a national platform for research within
sustainable fashion that includes business, government and civil society.
Figure 1: Cellulosic future fashion opportunities mapped in a shirt (Drawing: Hanna de la Motte, Miriam
Ribul)
One of the research strands within MISTRA Future Fashion is to investigate and develop
chemical recycling possibilities of cellulosic fibres. Three on-going projects linked to this
development within MISTRA Future Fashion are presented here.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
22
Ageing and hornification of cellulose in cotton textiles during long time use
In order to develop processes to recycle cotton into dissolving pulp and regenerated cellulosic
fibers, basic knowledge of changes induced by the use phase are necessary. In this project, four
cotton sheets laundered different number of times (0, 2-4, approx. 50, >50) were investigated in
order to gain more understanding of how the use and laundering affects chemical and physical
properties of the fibre.
Figure 2: Schematic picture of the cotton laundering study (Drawing: Anna Palme)
The work is a PhD project included in the MISTRA Future Fashion research project 5 (P5):
Reuse, recycling and End of life issues. P5 develops methods for chemical recycling of post-
consumer waste into new strong textile fibers for fashion.
Design possibilities in regenerated cellulose materials The aim of the short term scientific mission is to map possible leads and developments of
scenarios for tangible prototypes for future design applications of regenerated cellulose fibres.
The insights into the tools and processes applied in the lab for the regeneration of cellulose
materials are being developed into a small science-design project within a short period of time.
Scoping, reflection, mapping and development of the final design are informed by hands-on
applications of the research ideas in the lab.
The interdisciplinary project is a Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) funded by COST
FP1205. The outcomes are the result of the collaboration between an early-career design
researcher from Project 3 within MISTRA Future Fashion with a technical scientist from Project
5 at SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and Chalmers University of Technology.
Increased reactivity and applications for recycled cotton
The objective of the research is to develop methods that convert used cotton textiles into new
valuable fibers and materials. The project focuses on electrochemical oxidation of cellulose to
increase its reactivity and facilitate production of new materials. By oxidation, cellulose fibers
can be provided with better fibrillation, cross-linking properties or increased solubility, which are
interesting features for better recovery systems and longer life cycles. A secondary objective of
the project is to investigate ionic liquids as electrolytes for the electrochemical oxidation of
cellulose.
The project is a Formas Mobility Starting Grant for Young Researchers. In the project, SP Wood
Technology collaborates with Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Natural
Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
23
The effect of nanocellulose on mechanical and barrier properties of soy-protein plasticized multi-layer film
Mojca Božič, Majerič Martina, Vera Vivo, Vanja Kokol
University of Maribor, Institute for Engineering Materials and Design, Smetanova ul. 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia. [email protected]
Keywords: soy-protein, nanocellulose, multi-layer film, compression molding.
ABSTRACT
There are a number of drivers that are fuelling the growth in the bio-packaging market, from
recent technological advances are helping to bring down their cost and expand their range of
properties, to the need to move away from petrochemical based materials and steer the plastics
industry down to a more sustainable route. Bio-renewable polymers derived from pure feedstock
represents an ecologically-friendly, biodegradable, cheap and compostable alternative. However,
in terms of competing with many standard packaging materials, the properties are still not
sufficient for certain applications. There is undoubtedly a gap in the market for biopackaging
(non-paper and above all paper-based) that possesses good barrier (oxygen and water-vapor
transition) and thermo-mechanical properties as well as suitable process-ability (thermoplastic
behavior).
In this contribution it will be presented few strategies for producing of highly-performed rigid or
flexible biopackaging materials being fabricated as mono- or multi-layers films by using
renewable biopolymers (soy protein), nontoxic and non-volatile linear or branched additives
(acting as plasticiser and/or crosslinking agents) and differently prepared nano-cellulose, using
casting and/or compression molding technique.
Acknowledgement. The research leading to these results has been co-funded from the European
Union's 7th Framework Program under the grand agreement NMP4-LA-2012-280759 and the
acronym NanoBarrier.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
24
Fungal defibration of hemp fibres for cellulose isolation
Anders Thygesen*, Ming Liu*, Geoffrey Daniel** and Anne S. Meyer*
*Center for Bioprocess Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark.
**Department of Forest Products/Wood Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750-07, Uppsala, Sweden.
Keywords: Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, Phlebia radiata Cel 26, cellulose isolation, pectin.
ABSTRACT
Cellulosic fibres are of interest as fibre source for production of textiles and for sustainable
reinforcement of composite materials. Defibration by microbial, techniques is needed for
isolation of the fibres. White rot fungi without the ability to degrade cellulose have a potential for
defibration of plant fibres since these fungi can penetrate the fibre structure and thereby separate
the fibres. Hemp fibres (Cannabis sativa L) are chosen as fibre source since they are rich in
cellulose and have high strength. Two fungi were tested by cultivation tests under semidry
fermentation. These fungi include Ceriphoriopsis subvermispora and Phlebia radiata Cel 26,
which can decompose pectin and lignin and leaves the cellulose intact.
The cultivation is shown in Figure 1. An even colonisation by the fungus was obtained both
below and above the water surface. Based on chemical composition, P. radiata Cel 26 showed
the highest selectivity for pectin and lignin degradation and lowest cellulose loss (14%) resulting
in the highest cellulose content (78.4%) for the treated hemp fibres. The pectin and lignin
removal after treatment with P. radiata Cel 26 were of the order 82% and 50%, respectively.
Figure 1: Cultivation of Ceriphoriopsis subvermispora (middle) and Phlebia radiata Cel 26 (right) on hemp
stem pieces in 1 L flasks with an abiotic control blank (left).
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
25
Simulation and Optimization of sulfite process to obtain dissolving pulp and valuable products from spent sulfite liquor
N. Quijorna, C. Rueda, T. Llano, A. Andrés, B. Galán, G. Ruiz, J.R. Viguri, A. Coz*
Chemistry and Processes & Resources Engineering Department. Green Engineering and Resources Research Group www.geruc.es, University of Cantabria, Santander (Cantabria), Spain.
ETSIIyT. Avda. de los Castros s/n 39005 Santander. SPAIN e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords: dissolving pulp; optimisation; simulation; spent sulfite liquor; valorisation.
ABSTRACT
The acid sulfite process produces dissolving pulp, a pulp with high cellulose content, used in the
manufacture of textile fibres. Nowadays the demand of dissolving pulp is increasing giving a
more added value pulp. Furthermore, the expansion of the paper grade industries to the
production of dissolving pulp is growing.
In the digestion step of sulfite process, mainly lignin, but also part of the hemicelluloses and
small amount of cellulose are extracted from the wood chips using salts of bisulfitic acid. The
spent sulfite liquor (SSL), rich in sugars and lignosulfonates is usually burnt in order to use it as
energy. However, this waste stream can be better managed if used as a new raw material to
produce value-added chemicals. For this, pulp and paper (P&P) mills are sources of potential
valorisation related to the Forest Biorefinery concept. Waste and by-products from P&P mills
consist of sugar, acids, lignin-derivatives, hemicelluloses-derivatives and cellulose degradation
by-products and inhibitors of the post-fermentation processes.
In order to obtain a thorough knowledge of the P&P process the study of the main operation
variables and the kinetic study of the main components are being carried out. Three models have
been applied increasing the complexity. The estimation of the kinetic parameters has been done
using Aspen Custom Modeller Software. The future work will be to develop a separately model
for xylose and glucose, the main sugars.
a) b) Figure 1: a) Conversion evolution for decomposition-formation of monosaccharides in model C.
b) Conversion evolution for decomposition of monosaccharides in model C
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
26
The modelling of entire process (Figure 2) is being carried out to integrate the different stages,
not only of digestion process but also the evaporation stage and the whole pulp line by using
Aspen Plus software. The simulation allows not only the study of the influence of input variables
and its effects in the entire process and the output variables, but also, the optimization of the
process to obtain a desirable quality pulp.
Figure 2: Sulfite process for dissolving pulp and spent liquor production.
Simulation models of valuable products of SSL based on Biorefinery concept applied on the
sulfite process can be developed using the software Aspen Plus. These results can show that
valorisation of SSL could be feasible and could offer additional profits to the P&P mill.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by KBBE-2012-6-311935 BRIGIT
research project. www.brigit-project.eu.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
27
Cellulose nanocrystals obtained from cynara cardunculus: lab procedure, SEM analysis, and optical properties
Valentina Coccia, Franco Cotana, Gianluca Cavalaglio, Mattia Gelosia, Enrico Pompili
CIRIAF - CRB Section - University of Perugia, via G. Duranti, 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy. E: [email protected]
Keywords: bio-based product, biorefinery, cellulose nanocrystals, residual biomass, steam explosion.
ABSTRACT
Biorefinery purpose aim at designing new virtuous and high-efficiency energy chains, achieving
the combined production of biofuels (e.g. bioethanol) and biobased products obtained from by-
products and residues.
This contribution will present the lab experience carried out by the Italian Biomass Research
Centre (CRB) in extracting cellulose nano-crystals (NCC) from a pre-treated (via Steam
Explosion) fraction of cynara cardunculus i.e. a very common and abundant residual and invasive
arboreal variety in central Italy.
A parallel experimental programme is ongoing for producing bioethanol from some rurally
available ligno-cellulosic matrices (Cotana et al. 2014).
The NCC extraction methodology consists of a five step protocol allowing the separation of the
nanocrystalline content of cellulose. Such a procedure is literary captured (Oksman et al. 2011,
Pirani and Hashaikeh 2013) with the exception of Step (iv) that is only CRB Lab experienced and
it has been applied for the production of NCC from bio-residual matter (i.e. cynara cardunculus)
and as a baseline comparison from the micro crystalline cellulose (MCC). The main protocol
phases are mentioned as follows: (i) extractives removal from the bioresidue using the Soxhlet
apparatus; (ii) lignin separation from the cellulose component using basic hydrolysis; (iii) the
pulp energy bleaching (Marques et al. 2010) with sodium chlorite at controlled pH; (iv) acid
hydrolysis to deconstruct the cellulose into its two components: the crystalline and the amorphous
one; (v) ultrasound treatment of the solution and quantification NCC content.
In addition, some initial SEM analyses and characterisation measurements of the optical
properties have been carried out on the obtained NCC glass films. Figure 1 is a picture of the
operative Lab work phases.
Figure 2 and Figure 3 show two SEM images of NCC obtained respectively from cynara
cardunculus and from MCC.
Figure1: NCC Lab work phases
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
28
Figure 2: SEM image of NCC obtained from cynara cardunculus
Figure 3: SEM image of NCC from MCC
REFERENCES
Cotana F., Cavalaglio G., Gelosia M., Nicolini A., Coccia V., Petrozzi A. (2014). Production of
bioethanol in a second generation prototype from pine wood chips. Energy Procedia, 45c, 42-51.
Marques G., Del Río J.C., Gutiérrez A. (2010). Lipophilic extractives from several nonwoody
lignocellulosic crops (flax, hemp, sisal, abaca) and their fate during alkaline pulping and
TCF/ECF bleaching. Bioresource Technology, 101, 260 – 267.
Oksman, K., Etang, J. A., Mathew A. P., Jonoobi M. (2011). Cellulose nanowhiskers separated
from a bio-residue from wood bioethanol production. Biomass and Bioenergy, 35, 146-152.
Pirani, S., Hashaikeh, R. (2013). Nanocrystalline cellulose extraction process and utilization of
the byproduct for biofuels production. Carbohydrate Polymers, 93, 357– 363.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
29
The effect of cellulose-nanofibers phosphorylation, organic solvent content and cryo-parameters on scaffold micro-structuring
Selestina Gorgieva and Vanja Kokol
University of Maribor, Institute for Engineering Materials and Design, Smetanova ul. 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia: [email protected]
Keywords: cellulose nanofibers, cryo-processing, DMSO, porosity, phosphorylation
ABSTRACT
Combining the material porosity with advantages of nano-cellulose as a family of products from
major renewable biomass source, its biodegradability, thermal and chemical stability, effective
conductivity, and finally, the possibility for nano-scale control over the ultimate product
properties, broaden its application range towards emerging technologies, such as pharmaceutical
and biomedical applications, food packaging, thermal and acoustic insulators, gas or liquid
adsorption and permeation, and so-on. However, control over the final (e.g. physico-mechanical)
properties in purpose of reproducibility as key point in manufacturing processes, require
knowledge and control on basic mechanisms, underlying porosity generation and micro-
structuring in a whole.
Presented contribution will demonstrates innovative approach for micro-structural assembling of
cellulose nanofiber (CNF) suspensions into 3D-porous scaffolds. In that respect different effects
on scaffold fabrication will be presented: i) the temperature- and time-controlled uni-directional
freezing or repetitive freeze-thawing processes followed by lyophilisation (Figure 1), ii) the
addition of different DMSO molarities within water-DMSO binary mixtures, acting as CNF
dispersion mediums and freeze-control tool modulating the shape/size of ice-templates formed,
and iii) the use of negatively-charged phosphorylated-CNF affecting the interactions within
dispersion and consequently structuring. The scaffolds will be evaluated relating to the porosity
profile (size and distribution), physical (density and gas permeability) and mechanical
(compressibility) properties, and the correlations with preparation parameters will be drawn up.
Fig. 1: The effect of freezing end-temperature on porosity of air-exposed (upper-row) and Cu-plate-exposed
(lower-row) samples
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
30
Acknowledgement: This project was supported by Slovenian Ministry of education, science,
culture and sport, under the MNT Era-Net program, the project n-POSSCOG.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
31
A New Route Towards the Insertion of Nano Crystalline Cellulose into Epoxy Resins via Recombinant Proteins and Construction of a Novel
Bio-Nano-Composites
Amit Rivkin, Ronen Verker, Oded Shoseyov
Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
Keywords: Adhesive, Epoxy, Nano crystalline cellulose, Resilin-CBD.
ABSTRACT
Development of high performance bio-nano composite adhesives is of high interest due to their
potentially superior properties and environmental friendly approach. A novel bio-nano composite
presented here is based on Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) and the protein Resilin fused to a
cellulose binding domain (Res.-CBD). Resilin is a robber-like protein and considered to be the
most elastic material in nature. NCC, extracted from cellulose, nature's most abundant polymer
has a tensile strength similar to materials such as aramid fibers. As a case study, commercial
epoxy adhesive was chosen as a matrix for the bio-nano composite adhesives.
Insertion of hydrophilic NCC into hydrophobic resins, such as epoxy, is performed nowadays
using techniques involving NCC solvent exchange, chemical modification, emulsifiers addition
or simple mixing with water born resins which limits the material's application range or
considered environmentally unfriendly.
In this work we present a new approach for the insertion of NCC into an epoxy resin by utilising
the Res.-CBD chemical structure as a surfactant. Our mechanism shows that Res.-CBD binds to
the NCC through its CBD group and covalently reacts with epoxide groups through its amine
moieties, allowing direct NCC insertion into the epoxy resin. The mechanical properties of the
new bio-nano material show an increase of the Young's modulus by 40% and a decrease in the
tan (δ) by 20%, compared to pristine epoxy. This is an indication of higher elasticity of the bio-
nano composite adhesive compared to the pristine epoxy.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
32
Optical properties of cellulose nanocrystal mesogenic phases in thin films
Daniel Hewson
University of Exeter, e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Cellulose nanostructures have been found to possess remarkable properties that make them ideal
structural components in composite materials and thin films. Cellulose also has the advantage of
being one of the most abundant resources on the planet. Applications of cellulose nanocrystals
extend to medical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and electronic industries. Chiral nematic cellulose
structures have been shown to possess optical properties expressed as iridescence. As part of the
effort to research the exciting potential of cellulose nanocrystal structures to produce colour, this
work aims to explore their optical properties and the extent to which they can produce structural
colour. Cellulose nanocrystal thin films are unique structures that form by a self-assembly
process, a process that presents itself as an excellent candidate for mimicking the natural
structures found in insects, such as beetles, that produce colour via light interference. This work
will investigate whether colours can be reproduced by optimising and altering cellulose
nanocrystal thin film structures. Through synthesis, functionalization of the surface of cellulose
nanocrystals and characterisation techniques this work will investigate their potential and produce
optically active thin film structures that mimic those found in nature. Such structures will be
applicable to the fashion and product marketing industries. They also have great potential to serve
as anti-counterfeiting measures.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
33
Surface modification of cellulose nanocrystals with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide
Tiffany Abitbol, Heera Marway and Emily D. Cranston
McMaster University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. E: [email protected]
Keywords: cellulose nanocrystals, cationic surfactants, surface modification, surfactant adsorption
ABSTRACT
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) prepared by sulfuric acid hydrolysis of cotton were surface
modified with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), with goals of imparting some
hydrophobic character to the otherwise hydrophilic CNCs via the long alkyl tail of CTAB, and
better understanding the mechanism of cationic surfactant adsorption onto anionic CNC surfaces.
In general, hydrophobic CNCs are relevant for materials and processes where the CNCs need to
be compatible with hydrophobic solvents or polymers. This work was inspired by Salajková et al.
(2012), who used quaternary ammonium surfactants to hydrophobise carboxylated CNCs.
The sulfuric acid hydrolysis of native cellulose to give CNCs grafts anionic sulphate half ester
groups onto the surfaces of the CNCs. The charged groups impart colloidal stability to aqueous
CNC suspensions through electrostatic repulsion interactions. The approach for the surface
modification of CNCs with a cationic surfactant is straightforward; essentially, the counterions of
the CNC surface sulfate half ester groups are exchanged for the positively charged surfactant, in
this case, for cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA+), which acts as a bulky, amphiphilic cation.
We found that the surface modification could be tailored from 50 to 100% charge coupling
efficiency by varying reaction conditions. The main factor that influenced coupling efficiency
was ionic strength; increasing the ionic strength screened electrostatic interactions between the
CNCs and the cationic surfactant, which led to decreased electrostatic surfactant adsorption.
Additionally, electrostatically adsorbed surfactants were resilient to purification by dialysis,
remaining associated with the CNC surfaces even after extensive washing in both water and
ethanol.
Adsorption isotherms of CTAB on model CNC films, measured by surface plasmon resonance
spectroscopy, indicated an increase in adsorbed surfactant amount with increasing bulk CTAB
concentration without achieving saturation in the concentration range studied. The amount of
CTAB remaining associated with the CNC surfaces after post-adsorption rinsing approached a
similar value for all films, a result which was interpreted to indicate that electrostatically
adsorbed CTAB is more permanently bound to the CNCs compared to cooperatively adsorbed
surfactant.
The CTAB-modified CNCs were not well-dispersed in water but formed stable colloidal
suspensions in ethanol, which transitioned into a continuous gel-like chiral nematic liquid crystal
at relatively low concentrations (~4 wt. %) but did not phase separate into isotropic and
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
34
anisotropic phases as is seen in suspensions of unmodified CNCs. Figure 1 shows the
birefriengence and chiral nematic self-assembly observed for CTAB modified CNCs (50%
coupling efficiency) dispersed in ethanol.
The particle size and morphology of the CTAB-modified CNCs were unchanged compared to the
native CNCs but were more thermally stable and viscous, and somewhat less hydrophilic after the
surface modification reaction.
Figure 1: CTAB-modified CNCs at 6 wt. % in a sealed microslide viewed between crossed polarisers (a) and
in the polarised microscope (b), and CTA-CNCs-50% at 2 wt. % in a glass vial that was shaken prior to
taking the photograph (c).
REFERENCES
Salajková, M., Berglund, L.A., Zhou, Q. (2012): Hydrophobic cellulose nanocrystals modified
with quaternary ammonium salts. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 22(37), 19798-19805.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
35
Chemical functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals for photovoltaic applications
Jérémie Brand, Frédérique Ham-Pichavant, Véronique Coma, Gilles Sèbe*
University of Bordeaux, LCPO, UMR 5629, F-33607, Pessac, France
CNRS, LCPO, UMR 5629, F-33607 Pessac, France
PhD Stu. : [email protected] Supervisor*: [email protected]
Keywords: chemical modification, composite, nanocellulose, transesterification
ABSTRACT
In the current context of sustainability, there is a growing interest in developing novel functional
materials based on sustainable bioresources. Cellulose is one of the principal constituents of
wood and plants and one of the most abundant resources on earth. In nature, the linear chains of
this biopolymer are associated by hydrogen bonding to form a semicrystalline structure where
highly ordered regions (the crystallites) are distributed among disordered domains (the
amorphous phase). These crystallites are nanometer-sized and can be easily recovered by sulfuric
acid treatment, combined with sonication (Habibi et al. 2010). With this treatment, the
amorphous regions of cellulose are hydrolysed and rod-like cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) bearing
anionic sulfate ester groups at their surface are produced. Because of their high specific strength,
modulus and aspect ratio, CNC can significantly improve the mechanical performances of
polymers, at low loading levels, offering opportunities for new high value-added nanocomposite
materials (Habibi et al. 2010, Moon et al. 2011, Tingaut et al. 2013). Improved barrier properties
against oxygen and water have been also reported, as CNC tend to increase the tortuosity of the
diffusion pathway within the composite (Paralikar et al. 2008, Fukuzumi et al. 2009, Svagan et
al. 2009, Belbekhouche et al. 2011).
But to achieve properties improvement, a good interfacial adhesion must be obtained and the
CNC must be homogeneously dispersed in the polymeric matrix, which is non-trivial. Because of
their high surface area and hydrophilic nature, the CNC cannot be easily dispersed in mediums of
low polarity, rendering it difficult to efficiently reinforce most of the classical polymer matrices.
The dispersability of the CNC in such medium can however be improved by surface
functionalisation: chemical functions can be grafted at the surface of the CNC to decrease the
interfacial energy and increase their interaction with molecules of low-polarity (physical or
chemical interactions).
In this context, we envisaged tailoring the surface of CNC by chemical functionalisation, in order
to produce novel nanocomposite coatings for photovoltaic applications. An original
functionalisation method based on transesterification of vinyl esters was particularly investigated
(Sèbe et al. 2013) and applied to development of novel CNC-based coatings for solar cells, with
improved mechanical and barrier performances.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
36
REFERENCES
Belbekhouche, S., Bras, J., Siqueira, G., Chappey, C., Lebrun, L., Khelifi, B., Marais, S.,
Dufresne, A. (2011). Water sorption and gas barrier properties of cellulose whiskers and
microfibrils films. Carbohydrate Polymers, 83, 1740-1748.
Fukuzumi, H., Saito, T., Iwata, T., Kumamoto, Y., Isogai, A. (2009). Transparent and high gas
barrier films of cellulose nanofibers prepared by TEMPO-mediated oxidation.
Biomacromolecules, 10, 162-165.
Habibi, Y., Lucian, A. L. and Orlando J. R. (2010). Cellulose nanocrystals: chemistry, self-
assembly and applications. Chemical Reviews, 110, 6, 3479-3500.
Moon, R.J., Martini, A., Nairn J., Simonsen J., Youngblood, J. (2011). Cellulose nanomaterials
review: structure, properties and nanocomposites. Chemical Society Reviews, 40, 3941–3994.
Paralikar, S., Simonsen, J., Lombardi J. (2008). Poly(vinyl alcohol)/cellulose nanocrystals barrier
membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 320, 248-258.
Sèbe, G., Ham-Pichavant, F. and Pecastaings, G. (2013). Dispersibility and emulsion-stabilizing
effect of cellulose nanowhiskers esterified by vinyl acetate and vinyl cinnamate.
Biomacromolecules, 14, 2937-2944.
Svagan, A.J., Hedenqvist, M.S., Berglund, L. (2009). Reduced water vapor sorption in cellulose
nanocomposites with starch matrix. Composites Science Technology, 69, 500-506.
Tingaut, P., Zimmermann, T., Sèbe, G. (2012). Cellulose nanocrystals and microfibrillated
cellulose as building blocks for the design of hierarchical functional materials. Journal of
Materials Chemistry, 22, 20105-20111.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
37
The influence of ionising radiation on nanocellulose and the biodegradable films containing nanocellulose
Krystyna Cieśla, Anna Abramowska, Wojciech Głuszewski, Marek Buczkowski, Andrzej Nowicki, Grażyna Strzelczak
Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Dorodna 16 str., 03-195 Warsaw, Poland E: [email protected]
Keywords: Nanocrystalline cellulose, ionising radiation, starch-PVA based films
ABSTRACT
Variety of possible application of the cellulose based or cellulose containing composite materials
induces needs for search of the species with a modified properties (the increased or decreased
hydrophilicity, the presence of the appropriate functional groups, etc., in dependence on the
destiny of the final product). Using the cellulose fibres is one of the known possibility for
improvement of the plastics based on the natural as well as on artificial polymers. Recently, it
was also reported that introduction of the nanosized cellulose enable to produce the plastic with
the better properties as compared to those produced using the macro-scale cellulose.
Ionising radiation (gamma or electron) induces chemical and physical changes in polymers
(Cieśla, 2009). The processes alike degradation, crosslinking or grafting might be initiated by
irradiation. The advantage of using radiation modification consists on that none initialising agent
is necessary and that it is easy to control the processes by changing the conditions of irradiation.
Accordingly, radiation modification appear to be an alternative perspective methods that might
substitute chemical and enzymatic procedures, applied till now on the industrial scale for
modification of polymers. Using of ionising radiation might be more friendly for environment as
compared to the chemical methods and make possible to reduce the costs of the processes in
relation to the enzymatic methods. Beside, to the possible radiation modification, examination of
radiation effect on polymers appeared interesting in regard to development of the methods of
radiation decontamination and sterilisation causing the necessity for search the radiation-resistant
packaging materials for decontaminated products.
Starch is an abundant and cheap biopolymer with a good film forming ability and therefore it
appear to be an appropriate source for preparation of the cheap biodegradable packaging (Cieśla,
2009, Cieśla et al., 2010). In purpose to improve the properties of starch films various
modification methods are applied for the starch substrate as well as blending starch with the other
natural polymer or with the artificial biodegradable polymer. It was proved that it is possible to
improve properties of starch based films using of radiation modification (Cieśla et al., 2010).
PVA can be used for packaging purposes and is known to be the appropriate polymer for
blending with starch.
Our present studies are connected to the possible application of radiation technology for
modification of the cellulose structure and the properties of the cellulose containing
biodegradable plastics. This can be also related to the possible application of such materials for
packing the products subjected to radiation decontamination. The special focus was on
nanocellulose (NCC). Moreover, comparison of the nanocellulose with the micro-sized cellulose
has appeared interesting. Accordingly, the preliminary studies were conducted concerning
gamma and electron irradiation effect on cellulose/nanocellulose. Furthermore, PVA, starch and
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
38
PVA-starch films containing cellulose and nanocellulose were prepared and the effect of gamma
irradiation on the properties of the obtained materials was examined.
Studies of the basic processes taking place under influence of gamma and electron radiation in
the celluloses were carried out using EPR and gas chromatography. High efficiency of free
radicals formation was noticed in the case of nanocellulose as compared to microfibrinal
cellulose, while very low evidence of free radicals formation was observed in the case of
microcrystalline cellulose. Higher reactivity of NCC as compared to the other celluloses was
confirmed by the higher efficiency of hydrogen formation and oxygen consumption resulting
from irradiation.
Introduction of micro-sized celluloses into the films induced decrease in tensile strength and in
elongation on break, while appropriate introduction of nanocellulose lead to the improvement of
the mechanical properties of the films. This result might be related to the differences in
microstructure of the films, in particular to the high homogeneity of the films containing NCC
and non-homogeneity of the films containing micro-sized cellulose (shown by SEM).
The effect of irradiation on the mechanical properties of the films depends on the sample
composition and the conditions applied during synthesis and irradiation. Preliminary data have
shown slight improvement as well as deterioration of these properties. The properties of some
compositions containing NCC were not changed after radiation treatment. These results might be
related to the modified films‟ microstructure (SEM).
Hydrophilicity of the majority of the films (shown by contact angle data) has increased after
irradiation. However, in some cases these properties became unchanged or even decreases, ie. in
the case of starch-NCC or selected starch-PVA –NCC compositions.
Specific interaction of the PVA films with moisture were detected on the way of the moisture
uptake experiments. The changes in these interaction were detected after irradiation accompanied
by the lowered level of moisture under equilibrium conditions. Simultaneously, water uptake by
the PVA films containing nanocellulose was higher as compared to the films containing micro-
sized celluloses.
Decrease in the gel fraction content was found after irradiation in majority of the samples
showing the occurring degradation processes.
These preliminary results show modification of microstructure the films and the increase in the
compatibility of their components taking place under gamma radiation. The effect of irradiation
depend on the sample composition and on the applied condition. Degradation was found to be the
prevailing process taking place in the majority of the films. However, it can be supposed that
crosslinking occur simultaneously with degradation. Selected compositions containing nano-sized
cellulose revealled better mechanical properties as compared to the films containing both micro-
sized cellulose or prepared without the cellulose additive, and appeared not sensitive to
irradiation or show improvement of some properties after irradiation.
REFERENCES
Cieśla K.A., Nowicki A., Buczkowski M.J. (2010). Preliminary studies of the influence of starch
irradiation on physico-chemical properties of films prepared using starch and starch – surfactant
system. Nukleonika, 55(2), 233–242.
Cieśla K. (2009). Transformation of supramolecular structure initialized in natural polymers by
gamma irradiation. Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
39
Studies on the tosylation of cellulose in mixtures of ionic liquids and a co-solvent
Martin Gericke,c Jens Schaller,b Tim Liebert,c Pedro Fardim,a Frank Meister,b Thomas Heinzea,b,c
a Laboratory of Fibre and Cellulose Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Porthansgatan 3, FI-20500
Turku, Finland b Thuringian Institute for Textile and Plastics Research, Breitscheidstraße 97, D-07407 Rudolstadt,
Germany c Institute of Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Centre of Excellence for Polysaccharide Research, Humboldtstraße 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany
+49 3641 948270 fax: +49 3641 948272 e-mail: [email protected] (T.Heinze)
Keywords: cellulose, ionic liquids, tosylation
ABSTRACT
Ionic liquids (ILs) are a valuable tool for the shaping of cellulose (1,2). We are working on
conceptions where this shaping can be combined with chemical modification leading to
derivatives suitable for surface-modification. One of the most promising derivatives in this regard
is the cellulose-p-toluenesulphonic acid ester (cellulose tosylate). Thus, the tosylation of cellulose
in ILs was studied (3) (Fig. 1,).
Figure 1: Scheme for the reaction of cellulose with tosyl chloride (Tos-Cl) and the subsequent conversion of
tosyl cellulose with a nucleophile (Nuc−).
Due to the beneficial effect of different co-solvents, the reaction could be performed at 25°C
without the need of heating (in order to reduce viscosity) or cooling (in order to prevent side
reactions). The effects of reaction parameters, such as time, molar ratio, and type of base, on the
degree of substitution (DS) with tosyl- and chloro-deoxy groups as well as on the molecular
weight were evaluated. Products with a DStosyl ≤ 1.14 and DSCl ≤ 0.16 (Fig. 2) were obtained and
characterised by means of NMR- and FT-IR spectroscopy in order to evaluate their purity and
distribution of functional groups within the modified anhydroglucose unit (AGU). Tosylation of
cellulose in mixtures of IL and a co-solvent was found to result in predominant substitution at the
primary hydroxyl group. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) revealed only a moderate
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
40
degradation of the polymer backbone at a reaction time of 4-8 h. Finally, the nucleophilic
displacement (SN) of tosyl- and chloro-deoxy groups by azide as well as recycling of the ILs was
studied.
Figure 2: Overall degree of substitution (DS) of tosyl celluloses obtained in 1-butyl-3- methylimidazolium
chloride (BMIMCl)/1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone (DMI) in the presence of 1-butylimidazole (left side) or in
BMIMCl/pyridine without an additional base (right side) at different reaction conditions. Individual
contributions of DStosyl (darkareas) and DSCl (bright areas) are highlighted.
REFERENCES
1) Cellulose Solvents: For Analysis, Shaping and Chemical Modification; Eds.: Liebert, T.
Heinze, T. Edgar K.; American Chemical Society, Washington DC, USA, ACS Symposium
Series 1033, on-line February 23, 2010, (ISBN13: 9780841200067).
2) Liebert, T., Heinze, T. (2008). Interaction of ionic liquids with polysaccharides. 5.
solvents and reaction media for the modification of cellulose. Bioresources, 3, 576-
601.
3) Gericke, M,. Schaller, J., Liebert, T., Fardim, P., Meister, F., Heinze, Th. (2012).
Comprehensive Study on the Tosylation of Cellulose in Ionic Liquids and Ionic
Liquid/Co-Solvent Mixtures. Carbohydr. Polym., 89, 526– 536.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
41
Structural Ordering and Self-assembly in Mesogenic Cellulose Nanocrystal Phases
Daniel J. Hewson, Stephen J. Eichhorn, Peter Vukusic
Physics & Astronomy, College of Engineering, Maths & Physical Sciences, Stocker Road, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK. E: [email protected]
Keywords: cellulose nanocrystals, self-assembly, order
ABSTRACT
Cellulose nanostructures have been found to possess remarkable optical properties derived from
their ability to form mesogenic phases in liquid solutions (Gray et al. 1992). These phases are
currently being used to produce iridescent thin films (Fernandes et al. 2013). The formation of
cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) into mesogenic phases occurs via a self-assembly process that for
cellulose produces two different phases. Cellulose has been observed to form two of the three
mesogenic phases formed by liquid vrystal polymers, the nematic phase and the cholesteric phase
(MacLachlan et al. 2013). A nematic phase has long range directional order in the plane parallel
to the longitudinal axis of the nanowhisker and short range positional order. The cholesteric
phase consists of a twist in the plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis brought about by a
small rotation in each CNC in the stack. As part of the effort to research the exciting potential
that cellulose nanocrystal structures have to produce colour, this work aims to explore the self-
assembly processes and the extent to which they can produce structural colour. The approach has
been to follow the drying process in liquid aqueous drops of CNCs. The formation of the phases
across a single drop has been tracked using polarised light microscopy (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Polarised optical microscope image of a Cellulose nanocrystal thin film taken using a full 530nm
retardation plate
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
42
REFERENCES
Gray, D. G., Revol, J.-F., Bradford, H., Giasson, J. and Marchessault, R. H. (1992). Helicoidal
self-ordering of cellulose microfibrils in aqueous suspension. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 14, 170-172.
MacLachlan, M. J., Cheung, C. Y., Giese M., Kelly, J. A. and Hamad, W. Y. (2013). Iridescent
Chiral nematic cellulose nanocrystal/polymer composites assembled in organic solvents. ACS
Macro Lett. 2, 1016-1020.
Fernandes, S. N., Geng, Y., Vignolini, S., Glover, B. J., Trindade, A. C., Canejo, J. P., Almeida,
P. L., Brogueira, P. and Godinho, M. H. (2013). Structural colour and Iridescence in Transparent
Sheared Cellulosic Films. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 214, 25-32.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
43
Preparation and characterisation of nano-cellulose
Kay Hettrich, Manfred Pinnow, Bert Volkert
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, Geiselbergstr. 69, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany, [email protected]
Keywords: nano-cellulose, raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, ultra-centrifugation
ABSTRACT
Novel nano-scaled cellulose particles have been prepared by high-pressure homogenising of
different pre-treated cellulose samples with Microfluidiser ™ processor (MF) in aqueous media.
One possibility of pre-treatment is a decrystallisation step realised by dissolving and regenerating
cellulose from a melt NMMNO*H2O solvent system. Nano-cellulose was obtained by a
subsequent high-pressure mechanical treatment of the precipitate in aqueous dispersion.
Decrystallisation was also realised by grinding cellulose in a planetary mill. Ground cellulose
was subsequently dispersed with high-speed stirrer Ultra-Turrax™ (UT) and high-pressure
homogeniser. The amorphous intermediates were characterised by means of WAXS, Raman
spectroscopy and DP determination.
By another way the preparation of nano-scaled cellulose was conducted by hydrolysis and
following mechanical treatment of hydrolysed cellulose with Ultra-Turrax™ and
Microfluidizer™. A further alternative was given by the mechanical treatment of aqueous
dispersions of low substituted cellulose derivatives. For example methyl cellulose,
carboxymethyl cellulose and oxidised cellulose gave nano-scaled materials with interesting
properties.
In order to obtain information about cellulose particle sizes, UT and MF treated dispersions were
characterised by means of static and dynamic light scattering (DLS), ultra-centrifugation and
scanning electron microscopy (SEM), rheological measurements revealed the viscoelastic
properties and gel-like structure of the materials as well as time- and shear-dependent effects like
thixotropy and pseudoplasticity (structural viscosity).
In conjunction with potential applications film forming properties and temperature dependent
behaviour (e.g. viscosity) of the materials were investigated.
Selected samples of nano-cellulosic dispersions were dried via lyophilisation, via spray drying,
and solvent exchange. The dried products were characterised in terms of porosity (mercury
porosimetry) and particle morphology (SEM). Re-dispersed samples were compared with starting
dispersions by means of SEM, DLS and rheometry.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
44
Robust biodegradble optically tunable NCC sheets
Nir Peer1, Y.Nevo2, S. Yochelis1, O.Shosayov2, Y. Paltiel1
1Applied Physics Department and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
2The Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
ABSTRACT
Nano crystalline cellulose (NCC) is one of the most exciting new bio materials made from
cellulose. Cellulose is the main component of cell walls of trees and plants and can be produced
from recycled sources such as waste streams of paper mills or sewage treatment plants. NCC is
nearly as strong as Kevlar and can be added to a variety of materials to increase their strength and
stiffness. Because of the self-assembly features of NCC, it can form a very dense layer which
substantially decreases the transfer of air through the sheet. It is environmental friendly is
potential for many applications such as green houses and food packaging.
Using nanoparticles (NPs), which possess size-dependent quantum properties, enables a control
over the sheet‟s optical properties (Yoffe, 2001). For example, it is well known that insects use
UV light to navigate. Therefore, the NPs that absorb incoming solar UV light enhance the plants‟
defense system towards plant-eating insects (Chiel et al, 2006). In figure 1 we show how the
combination of NCC with ZnO or CdSe/CdS NPs displays a good absorption of UV light, while
being almost transparent in the visible range. In addition, NPs may improve the photosynthesis
efficiency by converting the absorbed UV light to the visible spectrum by emission, as seen in the
inset of figure 1. Moreover, blocking thermal IR light which is emitted from the ground may also
increase the energy efficiency by the heat conservation (Katsoulas et al, 2004, Mears et al, 1974).
This can also be achieved by using suitable NPs, as seen in figure 2.
In the presented work we have combined the NCC properties with the NPs to fabricate strong
optically controlled biodegradable sheets that have the potential for many applications such as
green houses and food packaging.
In the future we plan to use Si/SiO2 emitting NPs which are environmentally friendly in order to
convert the UV light to visible light as we observed in the CdSe/ZnS NPs. Furthermore, we
intend to measure the mechanical properties of the NCC in varying thicknesses and when it is
mixed with the NPs, in order to achieve an optimal strength for the sheets.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
45
Figure 1: Transmission plot of NCC with ZnO (purple) NPs and NCC with CdSe/ZnS NPs (red). The inset
shows the emission of the NCC with CdSe/ZnS NPs.
Figure 2: IR light transmission plot of polyethylene (PE) sheets (purple) compared to NCC (green) and NCC
mixed with SiO2 NPs (blue)
REFERENCES
Yoffe, A. Semiconductor quantum dots and related systems: electronic, optical, luminescence and
related properties of low dimensional systems. Adv. Phys. 1–208 (2001).
Katsoulas, N., Bartzanas, T., Nikolaou, C. & Kittas, C. Use of polyethylene films with high
reflection to NIR and low transmission to IR in greenhouses : effects on microclimate , energy
saving and crop production. (2004).
Mears, David, R., William, J. R. & Simpkins, J. C. New concepts in greenhouse heating. Am.
Soc. Agric. Eng. NA74-112, (1974).
PE
NCC
NCC+SiO2
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
46
Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) of nanocellulose reinforced urea-formaldehyde resin
Zeki Candan, Turgay Akbulut, Oktay Gonultas
Department of Forest Products Engineering, Istanbul University, Sariyer, Istanbul, TURKEY. E: [email protected]
Keywords: Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), nanocellulose, urea-formaldehyde resin, thermal analysis, wood composites
ABSTRACT
Cellulose is one of the most abundant natural biopolymers in the world. Urea-formaldehyde resin
is the most commonly used adhesive in wood-based panel industry of Turkey. Nanocellulose has
an important potential to be used in a variety of applications because of its enhanced properties.
Thus nanocellulose has an increasing attention from researchers from all over the world (Candan
2012, Eichhorn et al. 2010, Klemm et al. 2011). The objective of this present study was to
determine effect of nanocellulose on dynamic mechanical thermal characteristics of urea-
formaldehyde resin. Commercial urea-formaldehyde resin was reinforced with nanocellulose at
different loading levels. Storage modulus results of the nanocellulose reinforced resins and neat
resin were shown in Figure 1. The results obtained in this work revealed that the storage
modulus, loss modulus, and tan delta values of the urea-formaldehyde resin were affected by the
nanocellulose reinforcement. It could be concluded that the resins having enhanced mechanical
properties could be used as a novel adhesive for wood-based panel industry.
Figure 1: DMTA curves of the nanocellulose reinforced resins and neat resin.
0
1E+09
2E+09
3E+09
4E+09
0 50 100 150 200 250
Sto
rage
Mo
du
lus
(Pa)
Temperature (°C)
Neat Resin 1% Nanocellulose 2% Nanocellulose 10% Nanocellulose
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
47
REFERENCES
Candan, Z. (2012). Nanoparticles use in manufacture of wood-based sandwich panels and
laminate flooring and its effects on technological properties, Ph.D. Thesis, 309 pp., Istanbul
University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Eichhorn, S.J., Dufresne, A., Aranguren, M., Marcovich, N.E., Capadona, J.R., Rowan, S.J.,
Weder, C., Thielemans, W., Roman, M., Renneckar, S., Gindl, W., Veigel, S., Keckes, J., Yano,
H., Abe, K., Nogi, M., Nakagaito, A.N., Mangalam, A., Simonsen, J., Benight, A.S., Bismarck,
A., Berglund, L.A., Peijs, T. (2010). Review: current international research into cellulose
nanofibres and nanocomposites. Journal of Materials Science, 45:1-33.
Klemm, D., Kramer, F., Moritz, S., Lindstrom, T., Ankerfors, M., Gray, D., Dorris, A. (2011).
Nanocelluloses: a new family of nature-based materials. Angewandte Chemie International
Edition 50(24):5438-5466.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
48
Session 2: Oral presentations
Influence of genotype and environmental variables in determining the physico-chemical properties of lignocelllulosic material derived from
cultivated trees
Giovanni Emiliani
Trees and Timber Institute, National Research Council, via Madonna del Piano, 10, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze), Italy. E:[email protected]
Keywords: biomass, cell wall chemistry, genotype variability
ABSTRACT
Lignin, cellulose, and hemi-cellulose are the most important biomolecules in vascular plants (Xu
et al. 2009) and fundamental constituents of the plant cell wall. They play a critical role in plant
development and auto-ecology. Cellulose microfibrils give cell walls tensile strength, and lignin
enclosing the cellulose microfibrils gives rigidity to cell walls, facilitating development during
growth (Zobel and van Buijtenen 1989).
Biomass accumulation, wood composition and ultra-structural traits are known to be highly
complex (Novaes et al., 2009), and the intercomplex structure of the lignocellulose is considered
to be the major obstacle in the pre-treatment process (Chandra et al., 2007; Himmel et al., 2007).
For the best use of possible feedstocks, their chemical composition is known to be a key factor.
Indeed, chemical composition characterises and determines the properties, quality, potential
applications and environmental problems related to any applications.
There is an inherent variability in the properties of biomass which is influenced by many factors
including plant species, intraspecific variability, growing environment, and phenological
variations. The level of recalcitrance of a plant cell wall to degradation varies among plant
species, as well as among different genotypes within a species, and it is dependent on the various
proportions of the main components (Sanchez, 2009; Chundawat et al., 2011). Ad example,
Sorek et al, (2014) reported a content of cellulose, of 37–45, 25–42, and 4–55% respectively for
Miscanthus giganteus, pine and poplar and many other reports of inter-specific biomass
chemistry (including aquatic plants, macro-, and microalgae) variations are available to date
(Rabemanolontsoa and Saka, 2013).
Recently Zhao and coworkers (2013), showed that in the natural populations of the promising
biomass producing perennial C4-grass Miscanthus, the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin
contents ranged among genotypes from 30.20–44.25, 28.97–42.65, and 6.96–20.75%,
respectively.
In this context, a large mapping population, built on natural populations of Populus nigra, was
developed for Genome wide Association Genetic approaches with the aim to link individual
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) to biomass parameters. Data showed that exists a
strong genotype variability in saccharification potential (a parameter widely used in biofuel
conversion efficiency assessment) and the related cell wall chemical composition features and
that this variation can be related to gene polymorphism, paving the way to the selection of
naturally occurring high biofuel conversion potential genotype or genetic transformation.
Furthermore, environmental and plantation parameters (e.g. water availability) induce variations
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
49
of lignocellulosic biomass chemical composition and ultrastructure, both influencing downstream
applications, like biofuel conversion and paper pulp industry. Experiment analysing the impact of
climatic change shift in temperature were simulated in Norway spruce using stem heating
artificial devices, and resulted in a significant alteration of lignification temporal patters in newly
formed xylem.
In Populus x canadensis, short rotation forestry plantations subjected to different irrigation
regimes, significant water shortage induced variations were registered for ultra-structural cell
wall parameters including vessel area (affecting wood density, a very important parameter for
downstream applications, influencing, ad example biomass physical accessibility to chemical and
enzymatic treatment) and fiber length.
The whole body of data, obtained on different species and analysing naturally occurring or
stressors driven variations, shows the high irregularity of lignocellulosic biomass chemical and
ultra-structural parameters and highlights the importance of a deeper characterisation of
feedstocks features, especially under climatic changes scenarios and in relation also to sustainable
socio-economic frameworks.
REFERENCES
Chandra, R.P., Bura, R., Mabee, W.E. et al. (2007). Substrate pretreatment: the key to effective
enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosics? Advances of Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology,
108, 67–93.
Chundawat, S.P., Bellesia, G., Uppugundla, N. et al. (2011). Restructuring the crystalline
cellulose hydrogen bond network enhances its depolymerization rate. Journal of the American
Chemical Society, 133, 11163–11174.
Himmel, M.E., Ding, S.Y., Johnson, D.K. et al. (2007). Biomass recalcitrance. Engineering
plants and enzymes for biofuels production. Science, 315, 804–807.
Novaes, E., Osorio, L., Drost, D.R., Miles, B.L., Boaventura-Novaes, C.R.D., Benedict, C.,
Dervinis, C., Yu, Q., Sykes, R., Davis, M. et al. (2009). Quantitative genetic analysis of biomass
and wood chemistry of Populus under different nitrogen levels. New Phytologist, 182, 878–890.
Rabemanolontsoa, H. and Saka S. (2013). Comparative study on chemical composition of various
biomass species RSC Advances, 3, 3946–3956.
Sánchez, C. (2009). Lignocellulosic residues: Biodegradation and bioconversion by fungi.
Biotechnology Advances, 27, 185–194.
Sorek, N., Yeats, T.H., Szemenyei, H., Youngs, H., Somerville, C.R. (2104) The Implications of
Lignocellulosic Biomass Chemical Composition for the Production of Advanced Biofuels.
BioScience X X 1–10 (in press).
Xu, Z., Zhang, D., Hu, J., Zhou, X., Ye, X., Reichel, K.L., Stewart, N.R., Syrenne, R.D., Yang,
X., Gao, P., Shi, W., Doeppke, C., Sykes, R.W., Burris, J.N., Bozell, J.J., Cheng, Z-M, Hayes,
D.G., Labbe, N., Davis, M., Stewart, C.N., Yuan, J.S. (2009). Comparative genome analysis of
lignin biosynthesis gene families across the plant kingdom. BMC Bioinformatics, 10:S3.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
50
Zhao, H,. Li, Q.,He, J., Yu, J., Yang, J., Liu, C., Peng, J. (2013). Genotypic variation of cell wall
composition and its conversion efficiency in Miscanthus sinensis, a potential biomass feedstock
crop in China. GCB Bioenergy, 6, 1-9.
Zobel, B.J., van Buijtenen, J.P. (1989) Wood variation. Its causes and control. Springer,
Heidelberg.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
51
Life cycle assessment on cotton and viscose fibres for textile
production
Janka Dibdiakova and Volkmar Timmermann
Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, P.O. Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway. [email protected]
Keywords: Cotton fibres, LCA, paper industry, pulp fibres, regenerated cellulose, viscose fibres.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the environmental impacts of the fibre
production, considering the production of natural (cotton) fibres and viscose fibres. The cotton
fibres included in this study are originated from USA and China, which differ with respect to the
energy consumption and chemicals used during the production of viscose fibres from regenerated
cellulose. The study was a cradle to gate approach, and corresponds to an attributional life cycle
assessment (LCA). Importantly, aspects related to the increasing use of cotton fibres in the
production of textiles were assessed. The LCA was conducted with SimaPro using the library
Ecoinvent. The environmental aspects of fibre productions were calculated for the functional unit
of 1 ton fibres delivered to industry gate. The results showed that a reduction of climate change
impact (kg CO2 eq.) was achieved by increasing of cotton fibres originated from USA in the
textile production compare to those from China. Furthermore, the total climate change impact
reduction depended on the applied energy mix needed for the production of viscose fibres
compare to natural fibres. Assuming that the production of viscose fibres was based only on
Norwegian energy mix yielded a reduction of the climate change impact by more than 20 %,
compared to the fibre production based on Scandinavian and European energy mix. Additionally,
the input and output transport contributed to more than 20 % impact in several cases.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
52
The Implications of the Introduction of Environmental Product Declarations and Product Environmental Footprints
Callum Hill1,2,3 and Andrew Norton1
1Renuables, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, UK
2JCH Industrial Ecology Limited, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK
3Norsk Institutt for Skog og Landskap, Ås, Norway
Keywords: life cycle assessment, environmental product declaration, product environmental footprint
ABSTRACT
The procedure for the development of programmes to produce Type III environmental product
declarations (also known as an EPD) is enshrined within ISO 14025 „Environmental labels and
declarations – Type III environmental declarations – Principles and procedures‟. The aim of such
declarations is to allow for comparisons between the environmental performance of products that
fulfil the same function. Such comparisons are based upon independently verified data using life
cycle assessment methodology. This is part of a concerted move by national governments and
other agencies to allow for informed decisions on the use of products and materials to be made
which are based upon quantifiable data.
There is an increasing awareness of environmental issues amongst the business community and
the general public and this is leading to a desire to make environmentally-responsible decisions
regarding purchases of goods and services. The providers of such goods and services are well
aware of this trend and environmental claims can form an important part of their marketing
strategy. Regrettably, such claims are often not justified and there has accordingly been a need to
develop methodologies that allow for informed choices to be made when it comes to purchasing
decisions.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool that has been developed in order to analyse and quantify
the environmental burdens associated with the production, use and disposal of a material or
product and is arguably the best way of quantifying this information (Hill 2011). The
methodologies of LCA are based upon thermodynamic principles. The system that is being
studied is defined and a system boundary is drawn around it. Mass and energy flows across the
boundary are then quantified. The environmental impacts associated with these flows are
determined. Although the methodology is, in principle, the best approach, the details of how such
a series of calculations can accurately reflect the environmental burden often become exceedingly
complex.
Crucial factors affecting the outcome of an LCA are the choice of functional unit, system
boundary, various assumptions made with respect to the product life cycle, data quality, and the
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
53
source of generic data. This makes it exceptionally difficult, or very often impossible to compare
the environmental performance of products that perform a similar function. For example, it might
be decided that a functional unit is a window of certain dimensions for a building project. It is
very unlikely that different manufacturers will have chosen the same functional unit, system
boundary, life cycle scenarios, etc.; making informed choices extremely problematical. Other
problems arise when manufacturers wish to present their product in the best possible way in
terms of environmental performance. There are many ways of doing this, through (for example)
judicious choice of the system boundary, or making favourable assumptions regarding the
product performance during the lifecycle and especially with respect to end of life scenarios.
In order to develop a framework that allows for comparability of environmental performance
between products, ISO 14025 was introduced. This describes the procedures required in order to
produce Type III environmental declarations (EPD). This is based on the principle of developing
product category rules (PCR) which specify how the information from an LCA is to be used to
produce the EPD. A PCR will typically specify what the functional unit is to be for the product.
Within the framework of ISO 14025, only the production phase (cradle to gate) of the lifecycle
has to be included in the EPD, forming what is known as an information module. It is also
possible to include other lifecycle stages, such as the in-service stage and the end of life stage, but
this is not compulsory. ISO 14025 also gives guidance on the process of managing an EPD
programme. This requires programme operators to set up a scheme for the publication of a PCR
under the guidance of general programme instructions.
There has to be transparency as to how the programme works and there must be a mechanism for
the verification of a PCR as well as the means to allow for consultation with interested parties.
The programme operator provides a repository for the store of the general programme
instructions, the PCR and EPD, although an EPD is owned by the manufacturer(s) of the product.
Some countries have taken a lead in developing national EPD programmes, which although a
positive move in terms of providing an incentive for the improvement of the environmental
profile of goods and services, was viewed as being a potential barrier to trade within Europe. ISO
14025 encourages the operators of EPD programmes to harmonise their methods and PCRs and
in Europe this has resulted in the creation of „ECO‟ a platform for rationalising EPDs, involving
11 EPD operators within Europe. This involves mutual recognition of EPDs, and the creation of
common PCRs, working from agreed core PCRs (such as EN 15804 in the built environment).
Also within Europe we are now seeing the development of product environmental footprints
(PEFs). There are a number of PEF pilot studies currently being undertaken and Renuables is
involved in a European consortium developing a PEF for building insulation. It is clearly of
importance to ensure as much comparability between PEFs and EPDs as possible.
REFERENCES
Hill, C.A.S. An Introduction to Sustainable Resource Use. Taylor and Francis (Routledge),
London, UK
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
54
Day 2. Thursday 6th of March 2014
Session 3: Oral presentations
Melt polycondensation to improve the dispersion of bacterial cellulose into polylactide via melt compounding. Enhancing barrier and
mechanical properties
J. Ambrosio-Martín*, M.J. Fabra, A. Lopez-Rubio and J. M. Lagaron
Novel Materials and Nanotechnology Group, IATA, CSIC, Av. Agustín Escardino 7, 46980 Paterna
(Valencia), Spain. e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords: Bacterial cellulose nanowhiskers, Barrier properties, Lactic acid oligomers, Mechanical properties, Melt compounding, Melt polycondensation, Polylactide.
ABSTRACT
Bacterial cellulose nanowhiskers (BCNW) were incorporated into polylactide (PLA) through
melt compounding. With the aim of improving the dispersion of the nanocellulose in the final
material and prior to melt processing, lactic acid oligomers (OLLA) were chemically grafted onto
the surface of BCNW through a melt polycondensation reaction. This in-situ polymerisation
reaction enhanced the compatibilisation between hydrophilic cellulose and hydrophobic PLA.
The optimised dispersion of the BCNW in the nanocomposites was confirmed by comparison
with nanocomposites obtained by direct melt mixing of PLA with freeze-dried or partially
hydrated BCNW, as can be seen in Fig. 1. In order to study the effect of BCNW in the final
properties of the nanocomposites, the amount of OLLA was kept constant and a reference
material was prepared containing the same amount of free oligomer. Thermal properties were
determined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). DSC revealed that, although cellulose
content did not affect the melting temperatures, crystallinity, as reflected by enthalpy values, was
significantly different. Furthermore, differences between grafted and ungrafted oligomers on
melting temperatures were noticed. Addition of grafted bacterial nanocellulose also resulted in
improved mechanical properties with an increase in elastic modulus and tensile strength up to
52% and 31%, respectively. This was mainly ascribed to the promotion of filler-filler and filler-
matrix interactions. Moreover, the developed nanocomposites showed a reduction in the water
and oxygen permeability (measured at 80% RH) reaching improvements up to 15 % and 21%,
respectively. This could be explained by well-dispersed nanocrystals acting as blocking agents
within the polymeric matrix, reducing the diffusion through the nanocomposite films and, hence,
the water and oxygen permeability. Therefore, this work offers a new route for incorporating well
dispersed nanocellulose within a hydrophobic polymer matrix, overcoming the dispersion
problems that this entails, especially when working with melt compounding methods.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
55
Figure 1: Photographs of ~100m thickness films of PLA-BCNW (a, d), PLA-BCNWFD (b,e) and PLA-
BCNWGEL (c, f) at 3wt.% (top) and 0.5 wt.% (bottom).
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
56
Glycidylmethacrylate Cellulose-based Nanosponge: a Forecast for Glycidylmethacrylate Nanocellulose Preparation and Use?
Elena Vismara
Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineer “G. Natta” Politecnico di Milano piazza Leonardi da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano. E: [email protected]
Keywords: Cellulose; Glycidylmethacrylate; Nanocellulose; Nanosponge
ABSTRACT
Cellulose material C1 was prepared by grafting of glycidylmethacrylate (GMA) in the presence
of Fenton type reagent. This one-pot procedure provided C1 with glycidyl isobutyrate branches.
Glycidyl epoxide ring opening with water turned C1–C2 material branched with glycerol
isobutyrate. So, C1 surface bears hydrophobic branches ending with the glycidyl group, while C2
surface presents hydrophilic branches ending with the glycerol group, see Figures 1 and 2
(Vismara et al. 2009).
Fig. 1. Simplified representation for the grafting of
GMA on cellulose by means of the Fenton’s reaction.
C1: glycidyl form; C2: glycerol form.
cellulose
Fig. 2. 13
C CP-MAS solid state NMR
spectra. C0: cotton cellulose;
C1: GMA-functionalized cotton
(glycidyl form); C2: GMA-
functionalized cotton (glycidyl
form); C2-pH 12: C2 sample treated
with NaOH(aq) pH 12, 25 ◦C, 48 h.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
57
C1–C2 are suitable for wastewater treatments as they act as nanosponges in adsorbing non polar
and polar aromatic pollutants, respectively. In advance they can be easily regenerated. C1–C2
have found more sophisticated applications in controlled drug delivery devices.
We wonder if it could be possible to transfer the same technology to nanocellulose, thus changing
size and shapes and pursuing the challenge of building up GMA nanocellulose for broadening
GMA-cellulose applications.
REFERENCES
Vismara, E., Melone, L., Gastaldi, G., Cosentino, C. and Torri, G. (2009). Surface
functionalization of cotton cellulose with glycidyl methacrylate and its application for the
adsorption of aromatic pollutants from wastewaters Journal of Hazardous Materials, 170, 798–
808.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
58
A simple one-pot route to cationic cellulose nanocrystals
Latifah Jasmani1, Samuel Eyley2, Rachel Wallbridge1, Wim Thielemans2,*
1 School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
2 Renewable Materials and Nanotechnology Research Group - KU Leuven @ Kulak, Etienne Sabbelaan
53, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium. *Email: [email protected]
Keywords: Birefringence, Cationic, Esterification, Nanocrystals, Nanowhiskers, Pyridinium
ABSTRACT
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), produced by acid-hydrolysis of native cellulose, have attracted
substantial attention owing to their mechanical properties (Eichhorn et al. 2010) and also
particularly due to their potential application as a reinforcing agent in nanocomposite materials
(Azizi Samir et al. 2005). Applications of CNCs can be extended through the modification of
their surface hydroxyl groups which has the potential to impart virtually any desired functionality
such as hydrophobicity, cationic or anionic charge, or fluorescence which in turn opens up many
more potential applications than may be achievable with unmodified cellulose. Variation of the
surface functionalities can be achieved by both small molecule grafting or by polymer grafting.
As a result, various modifications of CNCs have been reported, with most of the reported work
being dedicated to making CNCs hydrophobic, particularly to improve compatibility with
polymer matrices (Habibi et al. 2010).
Cationisation of cellulose nanocrystals has been reported several times in the literature so far.
The highest reported modification was DS 0.35 with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride and
pre-treatment of cellulose nanocrystals with sodium hydroxide (Zaman et al. 2010). Despite the
aggressive alkali treatment, and high extent of modification, the crystallinity of the product was
not reported.
Described herein is a methodology for one-pot grafting of pyridinium cations onto the surface of
cellulose nanocrystals using an esterification technique not used previously with nanocrystalline
cellulose (Fig. 1)(Jasmani et al. 2013). The resulting cellulose nanocrystals have a surface degree
of substitution of up to 1.1 for α-methylbenzylpyridinium bromide and 0.45 for
benzylpyridininium bromide and fully retain their crystal structure after modification.
Explanation for the large variation in modification despite little change in structure is provided.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
59
Figure 1: Cationisation of cellulose nanocrystals via esterification with substituted benzoic acids and
simultaneous nucleophilic substitution.
The pyridinium grafted cellulose nanocrystals synthesised via this methodology have a high
surface charge density and were able to form stable suspensions that show birefringence even
after being fully dried (Fig. 2). Future applications of these nanocrystals will also be discussed.
Figure 2: AFM image of pyridinium modified cellulose nanocrystals on a mica substrate and
photomicrograph through cross polarizers showing birefringence.
REFERENCES
Azizi Samir, M. A. S., Alloin, F. and Dufresne, A. (2005). Review of Recent Research into
Cellulosic Whiskers, Their Properties and Their Application in Nanocomposite Field.
Biomacromolecules, 6(2), 612-626.
Eichhorn, S. J., Dufresne, A., Aranguren, M., Marcovich, N. E., Capadona, J. R., Rowan, S. J.,
Weder, C., Thielemans, W., Roman, M., Renneckar, S., Gindl, W., Veigel, S., Keckes, J., Yano,
H., Abe, K., Nogi, M., Nakagaito, A. N., Mangalam, A., Simonsen, J., Benight, A. S., Bismarck,
A., Berglund, L. A. and Peijs, T. (2010). Review: current international research into cellulose
nanofibres and nanocomposites. Journal of Materials Science, 45, 1-33.
Habibi Y., Lucia, L. A. and Rojas, O. J. (2010). Cellulose Nanocrystals: Chemistry, Self-
Assembly, and Applications. Chemical Reviews, 110(6), 3479-3500.
Jasmani, L., and Eyley, S., Wallbridge, R. and Thielemans, W. (2013). A facile one-pot route to
cationic cellulose nanocrystals. Nanoscale, 5, 10207-10211.
Zaman, M., Xiao, H., Chibante, F., and Ni, Y. (2012). Synthesis and characterization of
cationically modified nanocrystallinee cellulose. Carbohydrate Polymers, 89(1), 163-170.
Abstracts, 5-6 March 2014, Bangor
60
Nano Crystalline Cellulose/Nano Particles (NCC/NPs); Light Tunable
Reinforced Plastic Sheets
Yuval Nevo1, Sigal Sharon1, Nir Peer2, Shira Yochelis2, Yossi Paltiel2,
Oded Shoseyov1
1The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Rehovot 76100, Israel 2School of Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
ABSTRACT
New processes and systems are constantly being innovated in order to meet the demand for
higher performances polymeric materials, and furthermore to meet today's environmental and
energy requirements. A single polymer or a combination of polymers may achieve a certain
properties enhancement, however major improvements may be achieved via nano-particles
reinforcements of polymers.
Nano Crystalline Cellulose (NCC) is an exciting new bio-material made from cellulose. It can be
produced from cell walls of plants but also from huge waste streams such as that of paper meals
and municipal sewage system sludge. These nano-crystals are 200-300 nm in length and 20 nm in
diameter, and nearly as strong as Kevlar. NCC has intriguing properties and many potential
applications. It may be present as liquid crystal solution in water and self-assemble to macro
scale ordered films having a thickness at the nano-scale.
In this work we aim to take advantage of the NCC properties and reinforce plastic sheets such as
polyethylene (PE) and poly-lactic acid (PLA) by coating them with ordered NCC layers.
Furthermore, we aim to integrate nano-particles such as SiO2 and ZiO in order to tune the
material's optical properties.
Novel nano-reinforced composite materials, with improved mechanical properties compared to
regular plastic sheets as well as controlled optical properties, were developed. The young
modulus of the plastic sheets and their toughness increased due to the NCC coating. Moreover,
blocking of UV and IR spectra was achieved by the incorporation of NPs inside the NCC coating.
Furthermore, NCC coatings add oxide-barrier capabilities to the plastic sheets. These new
materials will be applicable in fields such as greenhouses covers and food packaging, and will
present greener solutions than currently used plastic sheets.
SP Wood Technology SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Drottning Kristinas väg 67 SE- 114 28 Stockholm Sweden
ISBN: 978-91-87461-58-3 Front cover: Images supplied by Marta Martinez-Sanz, The Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IATA-CSIC), Spain