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Nanofibrillated cellulose originated from birch sawdust after sequential extractions: a promising polymeric material from waste to films

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Abstract

The residual cellulose of wood processing waste, sawdust, which was leftover after sequential hot-water extraction processes to isolate hemicelluloses and lignin in a novel forest biorefinery concept, was explored as the starting material for preparation of a highly value-added polymeric material, nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) also widely termed as cellulose nanofiber, which has provided an alternative efficient way to upgrade sawdust waste. The residual cellulose in sawdust was converted to a transparent NFC suspension in water through the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical/NaClO/NaBr oxidization approach. The resultant NFC with a dimension of ca. 5 nm in width and hundreds of nanometers in length were further processed into NFC films. The morphological features of the NFC suspension and its films were assessed by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Highly even dispersion of NFC fibrils in the films originated from sawdust feasibly contributes to the outstanding mechanical performance of the films. NFC suspension with higher carboxylate content and its resultant NFC films were found to show higher transmission of light.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the China Scholarship Council. We thank Dr. Jan Gustafsson for access to the FiberLab instrument. Prof. Maija Tenkanen at the University of Helsinki is gratefully acknowledged for valuable discussions. Chunlin Xu also thanks the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation for financial support via the KTH Wallenberg Wood Science Center. This work was also part of the activities at the Åbo Akademi Process Chemistry Centre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Process Chemistry Centre, c/o Laboratory Wood and Paper Chemistry, Åbo Akademi University, Porthansgatan 3, 20500, Åbo/Turku, Finland

    Jun Liu, Risto Korpinen, Stefan Willför & Chunlin Xu

  2. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Kirsi S. Mikkonen

  3. Wallenberg Wood Science Center, KTH The Royal Institute of Technology, 10044, Stockholm, Sweden

    Chunlin Xu

Authors
  1. Jun Liu
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  2. Risto Korpinen
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  3. Kirsi S. Mikkonen
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  4. Stefan Willför
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  5. Chunlin Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chunlin Xu.

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Liu, J., Korpinen, R., Mikkonen, K.S. et al. Nanofibrillated cellulose originated from birch sawdust after sequential extractions: a promising polymeric material from waste to films. Cellulose 21, 2587–2598 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0321-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0321-4

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