Grafting nanocellulose with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid and chitosan as additive for enhancing recycled OCC pulp fibres

Ao Li,Weisheng Sun,Dezhong Xu,Mengnan Zhang,Shengzhong Wu,Mizi Fan,Yu Li,Jiuping Rao,Yonghui Zhou,Omar Abo Madyan

doi:10.1007/s10570-021-04390-9

Abstract

This paper develops a novel paper additive for effectively recycling old corrugated container (OCC) by functionalizing nanocellulose (NC) with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and chitosan (CS), and investigate the reinforcing mechanisms and effect of the developed additive on the physical properties of recycled OCC pulp handsheets. The tensile, tear and burst index, air permeability, tensile energy absorption (TEA), and drainage performance of the recycled OCC handsheets are examined. Fourier transform infrared FTIR) spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used for the chemical and microstructure characterization of both NC based additives and paper from recycled OCC pulp. The results show that functional groups on the NC based additive, such as carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl groups, can bond with the hydroxyl groups on the recycled OCC fibres to generate a chemical bond. This leads to an increase in the crosslinks and bonding area between the fibres, which increases their tensile strength and improves their recycling rate. SEM shows that the paper with NC based additives had tighter inter-fibre bonds and smaller paper pore structure. Addition of 0.3% NC-DTPA-CS additive results in optimal properties of the recycled OCC paper with an increase by 31.64%, 22.28% and 36.6% of tensile index, tear index, burst index respectively, and the air permeability decreases by 36.92%.Graphical

Highlights

Nanocellulose (NC) has received increasing attention due to its attractive inherent properties such as biodegradability (Mishra et al 2018), low density(Dufresne 2010), high surface area (Klemm et al 2018), stiffness (Hubbe et al 2017), flexibility (Tanaka et al 2015), high aspect ratio and unique rheology as well as the ability to form effective hydrogen bonds within the entire cellulose chain or other polymeric matrix (Li et al 2021)
The results show that functional groups on the NC based additive, such as carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl groups, can bond with the hydroxyl groups on the recycled Old corrugated container (OCC) fibres to generate a chemical bond
Addition of 0.3% NC-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-CS additive results in optimal properties of the recycled OCC paper with an increase by 31.64%, 22.28% and 36.6% of tensile index, tear index, burst index respectively, and the air permeability decreases by 36.92%

Summary

Introduction

Nanocellulose (NC) has received increasing attention due to its attractive inherent properties such as biodegradability (Mishra et al 2018), low density(Dufresne 2010), high surface area (Klemm et al 2018), stiffness (Hubbe et al 2017), flexibility (Tanaka et al 2015), high aspect ratio and unique rheology as well as the ability to form effective hydrogen bonds within the entire cellulose chain or other polymeric matrix (Li et al 2021). Chitosan is a high molecular weight linear carbohydrate, chemically similar to cellulose, prepared by hydrolysis of the N-acetyl group of the natural polymer chitin (Jiang et al 2015; Tu et al 2017) It is rich in functional groups, such as hydroxyl, amino and acetylamino groups, which facilitate the formation of hydrogen bonds with the hydroxyl groups in the cellulose fibres of the pulp and are effective as dry strength agents in the paper industry (Rahmaninia and Khosravani 2015). A novel paper additive nanocellulose derivative (NC-DTPA-CS) was developed by modifying NC with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and cross-linking it with chitosan (CS) It is applied as a paper reinforcement to enhance the tensile properties of recycled paper, and to improve the recyclability of OCC by forming chemical bonds as well as producing hydrogen bonding to bind the fibres to the OCC by making them crosslinked to a complex degree. The development could lead to improving the efficient recovery of waste paper resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, alleviating environmental pressure, and implementing a low-carbon economy with low energy consumption, low emissions, and low pollution, which has tremendous economic and social benefits

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions