Abstract
High-consistency processing of fibrillated cellulose materials is attractive for commercial applications due to potential for lowered production costs, energy savings and easier logistics. The current work investigated structure–property relationships of fibrillated cellulose suspensions produced at 20% consistency using VTT HefCel (High-consistency enzymatic fibrillation of cellulose) technology. Morphological examination of the fibrillated materials revealed that enzymatic action on the cellulose substrates was not a direct function of enzyme dosage but rather was dependent on the raw material composition. Furthermore, shear viscosity of the HefCel suspensions was found to decrease with increasing enzyme dosage while the water retention increased. The shear viscosity followed power law relationship with the power law index varying in the range 0.11–0.73. The shear-thinning behavior decreased with increasing consistency. Moreover, suspension viscosity (upmu) was found to be highly dependent on the consistency (mathrm{c}) as upmu sim {mathrm{c}}^{mathrm{m}}, with mathrm{m} ranging from 2.75 to 4.31 for different samples. Yield stress (τy) of the HefCel suspensions was measured at 7 and 10% consistencies. The performance of the fibrillated cellulose grades in a typical application was demonstrated by casting films, which were characterized for their mechanical properties.Graphic abstract
Highlights
Lignocellulosic biomass is considered as one of the most promising and sustainable natural resources due to its abundance and renewable nature
Three different wood pulps were used as raw materials and three different enzyme dosages were studied for each pulp, giving nine grades of fibrillated cellulose materials at 17–23% solids content
Understanding the role of process parameters and raw materials could pave ways to produce cellulose nanomaterials with properties tuned for optimal performance in specific applications
Summary
Lignocellulosic biomass is considered as one of the most promising and sustainable natural resources due to its abundance and renewable nature. Chemical pre-treatments reduce energy consumption during the production of CNFs and improve the degree of fibrillation when compared to solely mechanical processes (Malucelli et al 2019; Siroand Plackett 2010) Another route to obtain CNMs from biomass is biological, via enzymatic pre-treatment of cellulose. There is still a lack of information regarding the effect of varying factors such as enzyme dosage and the role of cellulose substrate composition on the properties of the resultant material in high-consistency processes Understanding such a relationship could pave the ways to produce CNMs with properties tuned for optimal performance in specific applications. 6, 8, and 10 mg/g (on dry fibre mass) were used with each type of pulp to observe the effect of enzyme dosage level on the resultant HefCel quality. Young’s Modulus, and Strain at Break (SaB) are reported as a mean of five measurements per sample
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