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Structure of cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose from various wood species, cotton and flax studied by X-ray scattering

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Abstract

The structure of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) made by mild acid hydrolysis from cotton linter, flax fibres and sulphite or kraft cooked wood pulp was studied and compared with the structure of the starting materials. Crystallinities and the length and the width of the cellulose crystallites were determined by wide-angle X-ray scattering and the packing and the cross-sectional shape of the microfibrils were determined by small-angle X-ray scattering. The morphological differences were studied by scanning electron microscopy. A model for the changes in microfibrillar structure between native materials, pulp and MCC samples was proposed. The results indicated that from softwood or hardwood pulp, flax cellulose and cotton linter MCC with very similar nanostructures were obtained with small changes in reaction conditions. The crystallinity of MCC samples was 54–65%. The width and the length of the cellulose crystallites increased when MCC was made. For example, between cotton and cotton MCC the width increased from 7.1 nm to 8.8 nm and the length increased from 17.7 nm to 30.4 nm. However, the longest crystallites were found in native spruce wood (35–36 nm).

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Acknowledgements

We thank MAX-lab for the possibility to conduct the SAXS measurements. The National Graduate School in Materials Physics and University of Helsinki are acknowledged for the financial support.

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  1. Matti Knaapila

    Present address: Department of Physics, Institute for Energy Technology, P.O.B. 40, 2027, Kjeller, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Materials Physics, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O.B. 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Kirsi Leppänen, Seppo Andersson, Mika Torkkeli & Ritva Serimaa

  2. MAX-lab, Lund University, P.O.B. 118, 22100, Lund, Sweden

    Matti Knaapila

  3. Institute of Macromolecular Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy pr. 31, St., 199004, Petersburg, Russia

    Nina Kotelnikova

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  1. Kirsi Leppänen
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Correspondence to Ritva Serimaa.

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Leppänen, K., Andersson, S., Torkkeli, M. et al. Structure of cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose from various wood species, cotton and flax studied by X-ray scattering. Cellulose 16, 999–1015 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-009-9298-9

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