Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nanopaper from almond (Prunus dulcis) shell

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Cellulose Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Five pulping methods using different reagents were used for the delignification of almond shells: sodium hydroxide 7.5 % v/v for 24 h at 60 °C, potassium hydroxide 7.5 % v/v for 24 h at 60 °C, formic acid/water 90/10 v/v, organosolv with ethanol/water 60/40 v/v and sodium hydroxide 15 % v/v in an autoclave for 90 min at 120 °C. The resulting cellulose pulps were evaluated using TAPPI standard methods and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine the lignin content and crystallinity changes. After pulping, fibers were bleached with sodium chlorite and hydrogen peroxide to obtain pure cellulose. The resulting pulps were characterized by XRD and thermogravimetry to determine the cellulose purification rates and changes in crystallinity. Then, the different pulps were acetylated, hydrolyzed and homogenized to obtain cellulose nanofibers. Nanofiber sizes were assessed by atomic force microscopy and XRD to evaluate the effect of hydrolysis on nanofibers. Finally, nanopaper sheets were produced and the properties were compared to conventional micropaper. The different treatments influenced the amount of lignin eliminated, which had a direct relationship on the subsequent bleaching treatments to obtain pure cellulose. Hence, the different chemical methods influenced the crystallinity of the fibers which also influenced the yield of cellulose nanofibers and different nanopapers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alemdar A, Sain M (2008) Isolation and characterization of nanofibers from agricultural residues-wheat straw and soy hulls. Biores Technol 99:1664–1671

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Annergren GE (1996) The properties of bleached pulp. Strength properties and characteristics of bleached chemical and mechanical pulps, in: pulp bleaching—principles and practice, section VII: the properties of bleached pulp. Tappi Press, Atlanta, pp 717–748

    Google Scholar 

  • Arni AS, Zilli M, Converti A (2007) Solubilization of lignin components of food concern from sugar cane bagasse by alkaline hydrolysis. Cienc Technol Aliment 5:271–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bidlack J, Malone M, Benson R (1992) Molecular structure and component integration of secondary cell walls in plants. Proc Oklahoma Acad Sci 72:51–56

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buschle-Diller G, Inglesby MK, Wua Y (2005) Physicochemical properties of chemically and enzymatically modified cellulosic surfaces. Coll Surf 260:63–70

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Charreau H, Foresti ML, Vázquez A (2013) Nanocellulose patents trends: a comprehensive review on patents on cellulose nanocrystals, microfibrillated and bacterial cellulose. Recent Pat Nanotechnol 7:56–80

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen W, Yu H, Liu Y, Chen P, Zhang M, Hai Y (2011a) Individualization of cellulose nanofibers from wood using high-intensity ultrasonication combined with chemical pretreatments. Carbohydr Polym 83:1804–1811

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen W, Yu H, Liu Y, Hai Y, Zhang M, Chen P (2011b) Isolation and characterization of cellulose nanofibers from four plant cellulose fibers using a chemical-ultrasonic process. Cellular 18:433–442

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dapía S, Santos V, Parajo JC (2002) Study of formic acid as an agent for biomass fractionation. Biomass Bioenerg 22:213–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delmer C, Amor Y (1995) Cellulose biosynthesis. Plant Cell 7(7):987–1000

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Escarnota E, Aguedo M, Paquot M (2011) Characterization of hemicellulosic fractions from spelt hull extracted by different methods. Carbohyd Polym 85:419–428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fratzl P (2003) Cellulose and collagen: from fibres to tissues. Curr Opin Coll Interface Sci 8:32–39

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • French A (2013) Idealized powder diffraction patterns for cellulose polymorphs. Cellulose. doi:10.1007/s10570-013-0030-4

  • French A, Cintrón MS (2013) Cellulose polymorphy, crystallite size, and the Segal Crystallinity Index. Cellulose 20:583–588

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson LJ, Ashby MF (1997) Cellular solids—structure and properties, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Henriksson M, Berglund LA, Isaksson P, Lindström T, Nishino T (2008) Cellulose nanopaper structures of high toughness. Biomacromolecules 9:1579–1585

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Iwamoto S, Lee S, Endo T (2014) Relationship between aspect ratio and suspensión viscosity of wood cellulose nanofibers. Polym J 46:73–76

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jonoobi M, Harun J, Shakeri A, Misra M, Oksman K (2009) Chemical composition, crystallinity, and thermal degradation of bleached and unbleached kenaf bast pulp and nanofibers. Bioresources 4:626–639

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee SY, Chun SJ, Kang IA, Park JY (2009) Preparation of cellulose nanofibrils by high-pressure homogenizer and cellulose-based composite films. J Ind Eng Chem 15:50–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li R, Fei J, Cai Y, Li Y, Feng J, Yao J (2009) Cellulose whiskers extracted from mulberry: a novel biomass production. Carbohydr Polym 76:94–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maiti S, Jayaramudub J, Das K, Reddy SM, Sadiku R, Ray S, Liu D (2013) Preparation and characterization of nano-cellulose with new shape from different precursor. Carbohydr Polym 98:562–567

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moran J, Alvarez V, Cyras V, Vazquez A (2008) Extraction of cellulose and preparation of nanocellulose from sisal fibers. Cellular 15:149–159

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ni Y, Van Heiningen ARP (1996) Lignin removal from Alcell® pulp by washing with ethanol and water. Tappi J 79:239–243

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pelissari F, Amaral Sobral P, Menegalli F (2014) Isolation and characterization of cellulose nanofibers from banana peels. Cellulose 21:417–432

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pirayesh H, Khazaeian A (2012) Using almond (Prunus amygdalus L.) shell as a bio-waste resource in wood based composite. Compos B 43:1475–1479

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowell R (1983) The chemistry of solid wood in advances in chemistry series. American Chemical Society, Washington DC, pp 70–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Sehaqui H, Liu A, Zhou Q, Berglund LA (2010) Fast preparation procedure for large, flat cellulose and cellulose/inorganic nanopaper structures. Biomacromolecules 11:2195–2198

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Serrano L, Urruzola I, Nemeth D, Belafi-Bako K, Labidi J (2011) Modified cellulose microfibrils as benzene adsorbent. Desalination 270:143–150

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun CC (2008) Mechanism of moisture induced variations in true density and compaction properties of microcrystalline cellulose. Int J Pharm 346:93–101

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun RC, Tomkinson J, Wang YX, Xiao B (2000) Physico-chemical and structural characterization of hemicelluloses from wheat straw by alkaline peroxide extraction. Polymer 41:2647–2656

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun R, Sun XF, Liu GQ, Fowler P, Tomkinson J (2002) Structural and physicochemical characterization of hemicelluloses isolated by alkaline peroxide from barley straw. Polym Int 51:117–124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun JX, Sun XF, Zhao H, Sun RC (2004a) Isolation and characterization of cellulose 553 from sugarcane bagasse. Polym Degrad Stab 84:331–339

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun XF, Sun RC, Fowler P, Baird MS (2004b) Isolation and characterization of cellulose obtained by a two-stage treatment with organosolv and cyanamide activated hydrogen peroxide from wheat straw. Carbohydr Polym 55:379–391

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • TAPPI (2007) TAPPI Standards, in TAPPI test methods, Atlanta, GA, USA

  • Urruzola I, de Andres MA, Nemeth D, Belafi-Bako K, Labidi J (2013a) Multicomponents adsorption of modified cellulose microfibrils. Desalin Water Treat 51:10–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urruzola I, Serrano L, Llano-Ponte R, Andrés MA, Labidi J (2013b) Obtaining of eucalyptus microfibrils for adsorption of aromatic compounds in aqueous solution. Chem Eng J 229:42–49

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vincent JF (1999) From cellulose to cell. J Exp Biol 202:3263–3268

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang B, Sain K, Oksman M (2007) Study of structural morphology of hemp fiber from the micro to the nanoscale. Appl Compos Mater 14:89–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yousefi H, Hejazi S, Mousavi M, Azusa Y, Heidari AH (2013) Comparative study of paper and nanopaper properties prepared from bacterial cellulose nanofibers and fibers/ground cellulose nanofibers of canola straw. Ind Crop Prod 43:732–737

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan J, Yu Y, Wang Q, Fan X, Chen S, Wang P (2013) Modification of ramie with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquid. Fiber Polym 14:1254–1260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zuluaga R, Mondragon I, Gañan P (2009) New approaches to cellulose microfibril isolation from Musaceae agro-industrial residues. Compos Interface 16:27–37

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the the Department of Education, Universities and Investigation of the Basque Government (IT672-13) for financially supporting this work. E. Robles would like to acknowledge the financial support of CONACyT, Mexico through scholarship No. 216178. The authors would like to thank Dr. Alfred D. French for the valuable advices for the preparation of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of the Basque Country, Plaza Europa, 1, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    Iñaki Urruzola, Eduardo Robles, Luis Serrano & Jalel Labidi

Authors
  1. Iñaki Urruzola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eduardo Robles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Luis Serrano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jalel Labidi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jalel Labidi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Urruzola, I., Robles, E., Serrano, L. et al. Nanopaper from almond (Prunus dulcis) shell. Cellulose 21, 1619–1629 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0238-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-014-0238-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation