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Combination of twin-screw extruder and homogenizer to produce high-quality nanofibrillated cellulose with low energy consumption

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Abstract

The commercialization of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) is limited due to the high energy consumed during production. Twin-screw extrusion has recently been employed for the energy-efficient production of CNF with high solid content, but the method requires several passes. Cellulose nanofibrils have been produced by using both a twin-screw extruder and a homogenizer. Some combinations require a fewer number of passes thereby using less energy, while maintaining the desired CNF quality. The morphology and quality of CNF were characterized by optical microscopy, MorFi analysis, and with a recently developed quality index. The combination of one pass through the twin-screw extruder and two passes through the homogenizer decreases energy consumption by 45%. These CNF have a similar quality to CNF produced after five passes through the homogenizer alone.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Institut Carnot Polynat (Grant agreement No. ANR-16-CARN-0025-01), Centre Technique du Papier (Grenoble, France) and LabEx Tec 21 (Grant agreement No. ANR-11-LABX-0030). This research was made possible thanks to the facilities of the TekLiCell platform funded by the Région Rhône-Alpes (ERDF: European regional development fund). LGP2 is part of CDP Glyco@Alps (ANR-15-IDEX-02). Authors want to thank Denis Curtil from Grenoble INP Pagora for the refining step and François Cottin from CTP for the homogenization step.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LGP2, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Fleur Rol, Gabriel Banvillet & Julien Bras

  2. Centre Technique du Papier (CTP), 38000, Grenoble, France

    Gabriel Banvillet, Valérie Meyer & Michel Petit-Conil

  3. Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 75000, Paris, France

    Julien Bras

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  1. Fleur Rol
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  2. Gabriel Banvillet
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Correspondence to Julien Bras.

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Rol, F., Banvillet, G., Meyer, V. et al. Combination of twin-screw extruder and homogenizer to produce high-quality nanofibrillated cellulose with low energy consumption. J Mater Sci 53, 12604–12615 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2414-1

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