The challenge of predicting spinnability: Investigating benefits of adding lignin to cellulose solutions in air-gap spinning

In this study, the underlying mechanism for improved spinnability when mixing lignin and cellulose in solution was investigated. Co-processing of lignin and cellulose has previously been identified as a potential route for production of inexpensive and bio-based carbon fibers. The molecular order of cellulose contributes to the strength of the fibers and the high carbon content of lignin improves the yield during conversion to carbon fibers. The current work presents an additional benefit of combining lignin and cellulose; solutions that contain both lignin and cellulose could be air-gap spun at substantially higher draw ratios than pure cellulose solutions, that is, lignin improved the spinnability. Fibers were spun from solutions containing different ratios of lignin, from 0 to 70 wt%, and the critical draw ratio was determined at various temperatures of solution. The observations were followed by characterization of the solutions with shear and elongational viscosity and surface tension, but none of these methods could explain the beneficial effect of lignin on the spinnability. However, by measuring the take-up force it was found that lignin seems to stabilize against diameter fluctuations during spinning, and plausible explanations are discussed

Disassociated molecular orientation distributions of a composite cellulose–lignin carbon fiber precursor: A study by rotor synchronized NMR spectroscopy and X-ray scattering

Cellulose–lignin composite carbon fibers have shown to be a potential environmentally benign alternative to the traditional polyacrylonitrile precursor. With the associated cost reduction, cellulose–lignin carbon fibers are an attractive light-weight material for, e.g. wind power and automobile manufacturing. The carbon fiber tenacity, tensile modulus and creep resistance is in part determined by the carbon content and the molecular orientation distribution of the precursor. This work disassociates the molecular orientation of different components in cellulose–lignin composite fibers using rotor-synchronized solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and X-ray scattering. Our results show that lignin is completely disordered, in a mechanically stretched cellulose–lignin composite fiber, while the cellulose is ordered. In contrast, the native spruce wood raw material displays both oriented lignin and cellulose. The current processes for fabricating a cellulose–lignin composite fiber cannot regain the oriented lignin as observed from the native wood

Chemical Recycling of a Textile Blend from Polyester and Viscose, Part II: Mechanism and Reactivity during Alkaline Hydrolysis of Textile Polyester

Chemical recycling of textiles holds the potential to yield materials of equal quality and value as products from virgin feedstock. Selective depolymerization of textile polyester (PET) from regenerated cellulose/PET blends, by means of alkaline hydrolysis, renders the monomers of PET while cellulose remains in fiber form. Here, we present the mechanism and reactivity of textile PET during alkaline hydrolysis. Part I of this article series focuses on the cellulose part and a possible industrialization of such a process. The kinetics and reaction mechanism for alkaline hydrolysis of polyester packaging materials or virgin bulk polyester are well described in the scientific literature; however, information on depolymerization of PET from textiles is sparse. We find that the reaction rate of hydrolysis is not affected by disintegrating the fabric to increase its surface area. We ascribe this to the yarn structure, where texturing and a low density assures a high accessibility even without disintegration. The reaction, similar to bulk polyester, is shown to be surface specific and proceeds via endwise peeling. Finally, we show that the reaction product terephthalic acid is pure and obtained in high yields

Chemical Recycling of a Textile Blend from Polyester and Viscose, Part I: Process Description, Characterization, and Utilization of the Recycled Cellulose

Material recycling requires solutions that are technically, as well as economically and ecologically, viable. In this work, the technical feasibility to separate textile blends of viscose and polyester using alkaline hydrolysis is demonstrated. Polyester is depolymerized into the monomer terephthalic acid at high yields, while viscose is recovered in a polymeric form. After the alkaline treatment, the intrinsic viscosity of cellulose is decreased by up to 35%, which means it may not be suitable for conventional fiber-to-fiber recycling; however, it might be attractive in other technologies, such as emerging fiber processes, or as raw material for sugar platforms. Further, we present an upscaled industrial process layout, which is used to pinpoint the areas of the proposed process that require further optimization. The NaOH economy is identified as the key to an economically viable process, and several recommendations are given to decrease the consumption of NaOH. To further enhance the ecological end economic feasibility of the process, an increased hydrolysis rate and integration with a pulp mill are suggested

Mild Steam Explosion of Norway Spruce

The most common wood species in Sweden, and one of the most important renewable raw materials in Northern Europe, is Norway spruce (Picea abies). Today, it is utilized mainly for sawed timber and the production of pulp and paper. A modern kraft pulp mill that produces bleached pulp has a material efficiency of about 40-45%, and the final product contains mainly cellulose. The other components of the wood, e.g. hemicelluloses and lignin, are heavily degraded during the process and end up in the mill’s recovery boiler, where they are burned to recover the latent energy. The biorefinery concept is an approach where biomass is used for the production of a variety of products, e.g. new materials, chemicals and fuels.The aim of this work is to investigate a process called “mild steam explosion” as a pre-treatment step in a biorefinery. During steam explosion, saturated steam is applied to biomass at elevated pressure, which is followed by a fast pressure release. The treatment leads to both mechanical rupture and chemical reactions, such as acid hydrolysis. The conditions of the steam explosion treatment are kept mild (approx. 140-170\ub0C) to ensure that the degradation of the wood components is kept at a minimum. The idea behind the treatment is to make the structure of wood more accessible and facilitate the extraction and isolation of the wood components, preferably those of high molecular weights. The most abundant hemicellulose component in spruce is (galacto)glucomannan and is of primary concern. This is a challenge since it is also the component that is the most sensitive to chemicals. Treatment with reducing agents, such as sodium borohydride and dithionite, are therefore used to stabilize the (galacto)glucomannan.The findings in this thesis showed that steam explosion, even at modest conditions, made the wood structure accessible for enzymatic reactions. It was also shown that wood components from hemicelluloses and wood extractives were released into the condensed steam. Mild steam explosion was also seen to increase the rates of both extraction and delignification during subsequent treatments. The mechanical effects of the steam explosion treatment originated from steam heating, expansion during pressure release and impact. The properties of pulps after kraft cooking and oxygen delignification of steam-exploded wood chips were comparable to reference pulps. It was also found that treatment with a reducing agent stabilizes the (galacto)glucomannan during both mild steam explosion and various chemical treatments

Mild Steam Explosion of Norway Spruce

The most common wood species in Sweden, and one of the most important renewable raw materials in Northern Europe, is Norway spruce (Picea abies). Today, it is utilized mainly for sawed timber and the production of pulp and paper. A modern kraft pulp mill that produces bleached pulp has a material efficiency of about 40-45%, and the final product contains mainly cellulose. The other components of the wood, e.g. hemicelluloses and lignin, are heavily degraded during the process and end up in the mill’s recovery boiler, where they are burned to recover the latent energy. The biorefinery concept is an approach where biomass is used for the production of a variety of products, e.g. new materials, chemicals and fuels.The aim of this work is to investigate a process called “mild steam explosion” as a pre-treatment step in a biorefinery. During steam explosion, saturated steam is applied to biomass at elevated pressure, which is followed by a fast pressure release. The treatment leads to both mechanical rupture and chemical reactions, such as acid hydrolysis. The conditions of the steam explosion treatment are kept mild (approx. 140-170\ub0C) to ensure that the degradation of the wood components is kept at a minimum. The idea behind the treatment is to make the structure of wood more accessible and facilitate the extraction and isolation of the wood components, preferably those of high molecular weights. The most abundant hemicellulose component in spruce is (galacto)glucomannan and is of primary concern. This is a challenge since it is also the component that is the most sensitive to chemicals. Treatment with reducing agents, such as sodium borohydride and dithionite, are therefore used to stabilize the (galacto)glucomannan.The findings in this thesis showed that steam explosion, even at modest conditions, made the wood structure accessible for enzymatic reactions. It was also shown that wood components from hemicelluloses and wood extractives were released into the condensed steam. Mild steam explosion was also seen to increase the rates of both extraction and delignification during subsequent treatments. The mechanical effects of the steam explosion treatment originated from steam heating, expansion during pressure release and impact. The properties of pulps after kraft cooking and oxygen delignification of steam-exploded wood chips were comparable to reference pulps. It was also found that treatment with a reducing agent stabilizes the (galacto)glucomannan during both mild steam explosion and various chemical treatments

Adsorption Studies of Amino Cellulose on Cellulosics

Adsorption of a typical example of a new class of amino cellulose, namely 6-deoxy-6-(2-aminoethyl)amino cellulose at different pH-values and in the presence of electrolytes, onto cellulose model substrates is studied with surface plasmon resonance and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. Unexpectedly, adsorption is consistently higher at a higher pH-value of 10, indicating that solubility and interactions between amine moieties and cellulose are more important than electrostatic interactions. The findings are highly relevant for the process to modify material surfaces with amino cellulose in water-based systems as a universal tool for changing the surface properties and chemistry. Potential applications for an antimicrobial all biobased material could be found, e.g., as medical textiles or in the biotechnology sector

Mild steam explosion followed by kraft cooking and oxygen delignification of spruce (Picea abies)

The paper considers mild steam explosion as an initial biorefinery process step to make wood more accessible for chemicals and enzymes in subsequent extraction and isolation procedures. Wood chips were exploded at four and seven bars and the effects of the treatments were followed during both kraft cooking and oxygen delignification. The properties of the unbleached and bleached pulps, including kappa number, pulp yield, fibre length, intrinsic viscosity, chemical composition and ISO brightness, were analysed using standard methods. The findings showed a difference between treatment at four and seven bars, as the higher pressure leads to more significant visual changes as well as somewhat increased degradation of hemicelluloses. These changes however, have no apparent significant negative effect on the final pulp properties. To the contrary, a benefit of steam treatment seems that the time to reach a certain kappa number was slightly reduced with steam-exploded wood chips