Effect of boric acid on the stabilisation of cellulose-lignin filaments as precursors for carbon fibres

Le, Nguyen-Duc; Trogen, Mikaela; Varley, Russell J.; Hummel, Michael; Byrne, Nolene

doi:10.1007/s10570-020-03584-x

Original Research
Published: 25 November 2020

Effect of boric acid on the stabilisation of cellulose-lignin filaments as precursors for carbon fibres

Nguyen-Duc Le¹,
Mikaela Trogen²,
Russell J. Varley ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3792-1140¹,
Michael Hummel² &
Nolene Byrne¹

Cellulose volume 28, pages 729–739 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

The increasing demand for a low-cost and renewable carbon fibre precursor has driven the focus on bio-based precursors. Cellulose-lignin composite fibres are a new approach toward this direction. The combination of cellulose and lignin into a composite fibre could solve some of the current limitations for pure cellulose and lignin fibres. This study investigated the treatment of the composite fibres with boric acid with focus on carbon yield, stabilisation rate and fibre fusion, which is a typical defect in carbon fibre production. The influence of boric acid on the mechanism of stabilisation was studied. The stabilisation time was reduced by 25% through treatment with the reduction of fibre fusion, while the carbon yield increased significantly in comparison to the untreated fibres.

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Acknowledgments

MT and MH have received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 715788).

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Authors and Affiliations

Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
Nguyen-Duc Le, Russell J. Varley & Nolene Byrne
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Mikaela Trogen & Michael Hummel

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Nguyen-Duc Le
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Mikaela Trogen
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Russell J. Varley
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Michael Hummel
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Nolene Byrne
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Correspondence to Russell J. Varley.

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Le, ND., Trogen, M., Varley, R.J. et al. Effect of boric acid on the stabilisation of cellulose-lignin filaments as precursors for carbon fibres. Cellulose 28, 729–739 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03584-x

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Received: 04 August 2020
Accepted: 11 November 2020
Published: 25 November 2020
Issue Date: January 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03584-x

Keywords

Biopolymer
Low-cost carbon fibres
Cellulose-lignin composite fibres
Boric acid
Fibre fusion