Abstract
This article describes a facile route, which combines mild maceration of waste pulp sludge and a mechanical shearing process, to prepare microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) with a high storage modulus. In the maceration, the mixture of glacial acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide was used to extract cellulose from never-dried waste pulp sludge. Then, two different mechanical processes including disc refining (DR) and ultrasonication plus homogenization (UH) were applied to the cellulose after maceration and resulted in MFC with a highly tangled fibril network. All of the resultant cellulosic suspensions (2 % w/w) exhibited a gel-like and shear-thinning behavior with storage moduli (G′) ranging from 200 to 4000 Pa. Among them, the 30-min DR-treated MFC gels had the maximum G′, which was much higher than for previously reported MFC gels at the same concentration. Additionally, after mechanical processing, specific surface areas and water retention values of MFC were accordingly increased with the enhancement of shear force, while the storage moduli (G′) were not consistently increased. Finally, a strong MFC gel was successfully prepared from never-dried waste pulp sludge via a one-step disc refining process and using cost-effective chemicals. The obtained hydrogels will have potential as low-density reinforcing fillers or as a template for further surface modification.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brunauer S, Emmett PH, Teller E (1938) Adsorption of gases in multimolecular layers. J Am Chem Soc 60:309–319
Chamberlain CJ (1905) Methods in plant histology. University of Chicago Press, Chincago
Chen L, Wang Q, Hirth K, Baez C, Agarwal UP, Zhu J (2015) Tailoring the yield and characteristics of wood cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) using concentrated acid hydrolysis. Cellulose 22:1753–1762
Czaja WK, Young DJ, Kawecki M, Brown RM (2006) The future prospects of microbial cellulose in biomedical applications. Biomacromolecules 8:1–12
Franklin G (1945) Preparation of thin sections of synthetic resins and wood-resin composites, and a new macerating method for wood. Nature 155:51
Henriksson M, Henriksson G, Berglund L, Lindström T (2007) An environmentally friendly method for enzyme-assisted preparation of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) nanofibers. Eur Polym J 43:3434–3441
Henriksson M, Berglund LA, Isaksson P, Lindstrom T, Nishino T (2008) Cellulose nanopaper structures of high toughness. Biomacromolecules 9:1579–1585
Herrick FW, Casebier RL, Hamilton JK, Sandberg KR (1983) Microfibrillated cellulose: morphology and accessibility. Paper presented at the J Appl Polym Sci: Appl Polym Symp, US
Hu C, Zhao Y, Li K, Zhu J, Gleisner R (2015) Optimizing cellulose fibrillation for the production of cellulose nanofibrils by a disk grinder. Holzforschung 69:993–1000
Huntley CJ, Crews KD, Abdalla MA, Russell AE, Curry ML (2015) Influence of strong acid hydrolysis processing on the thermal stability and crystallinity of cellulose isolated from wheat straw. Int J Chem Eng. doi:10.1155/2015/658163
Iwamoto S, Nakagaito A, Yano H (2007) Nano-fibrillation of pulp fibers for the processing of transparent nanocomposites. Appl Phys A 89:461–466
Lavoine N, Desloges I, Dufresne A, Bras J (2012) Microfibrillated cellulose—its barrier properties and applications in cellulosic materials: a review. Carbohydr Polym 90:735–764
Leitner J, Hinterstoisser B, Wastyn M, Keckes J, Gindl W (2007) Sugar beet cellulose nanofibril-reinforced composites. Cellulose 14:419–425
Li J et al (2012) Homogeneous isolation of nanocellulose from sugarcane bagasse by high pressure homogenization. Carbohydr Polym 90:1609–1613
Liimatainen H, Visanko M, Sirvio JA, Hormi OEO, Niinimaki J (2012) Enhancement of the nanofibrillation of wood cellulose through sequential periodate–chlorite oxidation. Biomacromolecules 13:1592–1597
Liu AD, Walther A, Ikkala O, Belova L, Berglund LA (2011) Clay nanopaper with tough cellulose nanofiber matrix for fire retardancy and gas barrier functions. Biomacromolecules 12:633–641
Medeiros ES et al (2008) Electrospun nanofibers of poly (vinyl alcohol) reinforced with cellulose nanofibrils. J Biobased Mater Bio 2:231–242
Meier H (1962) Chemical and morphological aspects of the fine structure of wood. Pure Appl Chem 5:37–52
Nada A-A, Ibrahem A, Fahmy Y, Abo-Yousef H (1999) Peroxyacetic acid pulping of bagasse and characterization of the lignin and pulp. J Sci Ind Res India 58:620–628
Nair SS, Zhu J, Deng Y, Ragauskas AJ (2014) Hydrogels prepared from cross-linked nanofibrillated cellulose. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 2:772–780
Ono H, Shimaya Y, Sato K, Hongo T (2004) 1H spin-spin relaxation time of water and rheological properties of cellulose nanofiber dispersion, transparent cellulose hydrogel (TCG). Polym J 36:684–694
Osullivan AC (1997) Cellulose: the structure slowly unravels. Cellulose 4:173–207
Paakko M et al (2007) Enzymatic hydrolysis combined with mechanical shearing and high-pressure homogenization for nanoscale cellulose fibrils and strong gels. Biomacromolecules 8:1934–1941
Paakko M et al (2008) Long and entangled native cellulose I nanofibers allow flexible aerogels and hierarchically porous templates for functionalities. Soft Matter 4:2492–2499
Pan M, Zhou X, Chen M (2013) Cellulose nanowhiskers isolation and properties from acid hydrolysis combined with high pressure homogenization. BioResources 8:933–943
Picout DR, Ross-Murphy SB (2003) Rheology of biopolymer solutions and gels. Sci World J 3:105–121
Rudraraju VS, Wyandt CM (2005) Rheological characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose/Sodiumcarboxymethyl cellulose hydrogels using a controlled stress rheometer: part I. Int J Pharm 292:53–61
Saito T, Isogai A (2004) TEMPO-mediated oxidation of native cellulose. The effect of oxidation conditions on chemical and crystal structures of the water-insoluble fractions. Biomacromolecules 5:1983–1989
Sehaqui H, Salajkova M, Zhou Q, Berglund LA (2010) Mechanical performance tailoring of tough ultra-high porosity foams prepared from cellulose I nanofiber suspensions. Soft Matter 6:1824–1832
Siró I, Plackett D (2010) Microfibrillated cellulose and new nanocomposite materials: a review. Cellulose 17:459–494
Sluiter A, Hames B, Ruiz R, Scarlata C, Sluiter J, Templeton D, Crocker D (2008) Determination of structural carbohydrates and lignin in biomass. NREL/TP-510-42618), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO
Spence KL, Venditti RA, Rojas OJ, Habibi Y, Pawlak JJ (2010) The effect of chemical composition on microfibrillar cellulose films from wood pulps: water interactions and physical properties for packaging applications. Cellulose 17:835–848
Stelte W, Sanadi AR (2009) Preparation and characterization of cellulose nanofibers from two commercial hardwood and softwood pulps. Ind Eng Chem Res 48:11211–11219
Suslick KS (1990) Sonochemistry. Science 247:1439–1445
Tatsumi D, Ishioka S, Matsumoto T (2002) Effect of fiber concentration and axial ratio on the rheological properties of cellulose fiber suspensions. J Soc Rheol Jpn 30:27–32
Tenijenhuis K, Mijs WJ (1998) Chemical and physical networks formation and control of properties, vol 1. Wiley, Chichester
Wang Q, Zhu J, Gleisner R, Kuster T, Baxa U, McNeil S (2012a) Morphological development of cellulose fibrils of a bleached eucalyptus pulp by mechanical fibrillation. Cellulose 19:1631–1643
Wang Q, Zhu J, Reiner R, Verrill S, Baxa U, McNeil S (2012b) Approaching zero cellulose loss in cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) production: recovery and characterization of cellulosic solid residues (CSR) and CNC. Cellulose 19:2033–2047
Wang W, Mozuch MD, Sabo RC, Kersten P, Zhu J, Jin Y (2015a) Production of cellulose nanofibrils from bleached eucalyptus fibers by hyperthermostable endoglucanase treatment and subsequent microfluidization. Cellulose 22:351–361
Wang W, Sabo RC, Mozuch MD, Kersten P, Zhu J, Jin Y (2015b) Physical and mechanical properties of cellulose nanofibril films from bleached eucalyptus pulp by endoglucanase treatment and microfluidization. J Polym Environ 23:551–558
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, N., Zhu, J.Y. & Tong, Z. Fabrication of microfibrillated cellulose gel from waste pulp sludge via mild maceration combined with mechanical shearing. Cellulose 23, 2573–2583 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-016-0959-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-016-0959-1