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Tracing characteristic variations of cellulose nanocrystals during the post-synthesis purification process

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Abstract

The production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from biomass involves pretreatment, CNC synthesis, and post-synthesis purification. Information on quality variation during the different stages of pretreatment and CNC synthesis is well documented; however, the post-synthesis purification stage has received little attention. In this study, characteristic variations of CNC during the post-synthesis purification process were investigated. The stages in the process were washing (first and second), neutralization, and centrifugation. CNC’s yield decreased after the second washing and neutralization. Cellobiose and cellotriose were detected in the supernatants after the first and second washings. After neutralization, CNC showed a higher colloidal dispersion compared to the first and the second washings. The dimension, morphological, and structural properties were moderately altered during the purification process. Crystallinity increased while crystallite size reduced as CNC purification progressed. The CtCBD3 bound to CNC’s surface reduced by 24.27% after the second washing and increased by 47.44% after neutralization. The results in this study provide comprehensive information regarding the overall changes in CNC’s characteristics during its purification.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT, MSIT; No 2020R1C1C1005251).

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Author notes

  1. Hyeon Jin Yeo and Olajide Emmanuel Adedeji have contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, Republic of Korea

    Hyeon Jin Yeo, Olajide Emmanuel Adedeji, Mi Dan Kang, Hee-Soo Park & Young Hoon Jung

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University Wukari, P.M.B. 1020, Wukari, Nigeria

    Olajide Emmanuel Adedeji

  3. Department of Microbiology, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, 22212, Republic of Korea

    Minhye Shin

  4. Department of Marine Food Science and Technology, Gangneung-Wonju National University, Gangneung, Gangwon, 25457, Republic of Korea

    Dong Hyun Kim

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  1. Hyeon Jin Yeo
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Contributions

HJY performed most experiments, conducted statistical analysis and contributed in writing the draft manuscript. OEA performed statistical analysis, interpreted data and wrote the draft manuscript. MDK, HSO, and HSP performed part of the experiments. MS conducted statistical analysis and performed part of the experiment. DHK reviewed and revised the draft manuscript. YHJ conceived the idea, acquired fund, supervised the project, reviewed, and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Young Hoon Jung.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interest or personal relationship that could have influenced the findings reported in this paper.

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Yeo, H.J., Adedeji, O.E., Kang, M.D. et al. Tracing characteristic variations of cellulose nanocrystals during the post-synthesis purification process. Polym. Bull. 80, 1531–1544 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04121-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-022-04121-5

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