Abstract
Degumming is the dominant method to obtain lignocellulosic fibers in the textile industry. Traditionally, wet chemistry methods are used to monitor the evolution of major chemical components during the degumming process. However, these methods lack the ability to provide spatial information for these heterogeneous materials. In this study, besides wet chemistry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, a Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIRM) method was employed to monitor the changes in spatial distribution of the main chemical components on the kenaf surface during a steam explosion followed by chemical degum process. The results showed that hemicellulose and lignin were degummed at different rates, and the mechanisms of their degumming are different. The infrared microspectral images revealed the distribution changes of chemical components on the fiber bundle surface during the process, indicating that FTIRM is an effective tool to analyze the degumming process and improve degumming methods.
Highlights
IntroductionSeveral degumming techniques have been carefully investigated and widely used in the last several decades, including chemical degumming (alkali, acid), biological degumming (bacteria, enzyme), physical degumming (steam explosion, ultrasonic, microwave) and their combinations[6]
Several degumming techniques have been carefully investigated and widely used in the last several decades, including chemical degumming, biological degumming, physical degumming and their combinations[6]
A large portion of lignin could be inside of the fiber cells in some kinds of biomass[15], which prevents lignin being removed in degumming processes
Summary
Several degumming techniques have been carefully investigated and widely used in the last several decades, including chemical degumming (alkali, acid), biological degumming (bacteria, enzyme), physical degumming (steam explosion, ultrasonic, microwave) and their combinations[6]. Since the natural fiber materials are heterogeneous, it is expected that the degumming process would be heterogeneous. Revealing the evolution of the distributions of the major chemical components would significantly deepen our understanding of the degumming process. Polyhydroxybutyrate in sugarcane were successfully imaged with an FTIR microspectrometer[13]. Kenaf fiber bundles were treated by steam explosion and chemical degumming. Wet chemistry methods and an SEM were used to investigate the changes in the fiber bundles during the degumming process. An FTIR microspectrometer with an attenuated total reflection accessary (ATR) was www.nature.com/scientificreports/. WSM 11.4 ± 0.3 5.2 ± 0.2 NA employed to monitor the evolution of the distributions of cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose at microscale during the process
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