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Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cellulose Nanofibril Films from Bleached Eucalyptus Pulp by Endoglucanase Treatment and Microfluidization

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Abstract

A GH5 hyperthermostable endoglucanase (Ph-GH5) from the archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii and a commercial endoglucanase (FR) were used to treat bleached eucalyptus pulp (BEP) fibers to produce cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) and subsequently to CNF films. TEM imaging indicated that Ph-GH5 produced longer and more entangled CNF than FR with the same number of microfluidization passes. Physical and mechanical properties of CNF films were characterized. Optical opacity of CNF films from FR (10 mg/g) at 40 passes through the microfluidizer can be as low as 3.7 %, compared with 18.2 % from untreated BEP at the same number of passes. CNF films exhibited similar thermal stability with untreated BEP. Highest specific modulus of CNF films was also obtained from FR (10 mg/g), reaching 56 MNm/kg, approximately 271 % of the CNF films from untreated BEP at 40 passes through the microfluidizer. CNF film from Ph-GH5 (1 mg/g) at 40 passes provided the highest specific maximum tensile strength at 120 kNm/kg.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the financial supports by a USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grant (No. 2011-67009-20056), Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31070512 and 31370571). The funding from these programs made the visiting appointment of Wang at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) possible. We also acknowledge Thomas Kuster of the Analytical Chemistry and Microscopy Lab of FPL for SEM imaging and Debra Sherman of DS imaging LLC, West Lafayette, IN, for TEM imaging. This work was conducted on official government time of Zhu, Kersten, Mozuch, and Sabo while Wang was a visiting student at the US Forest Service, Forest Products Lab.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Provincial Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Wangxia Wang & Yongcan Jin

  2. USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, 53726, USA

    Wangxia Wang, Ronald C. Sabo, Michael D. Mozuch, Phil Kersten & J. Y. Zhu

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  1. Wangxia Wang
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  2. Ronald C. Sabo
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  3. Michael D. Mozuch
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  4. Phil Kersten
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  5. J. Y. Zhu
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Correspondence to Phil Kersten or J. Y. Zhu.

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Wang, W., Sabo, R.C., Mozuch, M.D. et al. Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cellulose Nanofibril Films from Bleached Eucalyptus Pulp by Endoglucanase Treatment and Microfluidization. J Polym Environ 23, 551–558 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-015-0726-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-015-0726-7

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