Process for the Low Cost and Non-Toxic Isolation of Cellulose Nanofibers from Grass Biomass

SUMMARY

• Cellulose nanofibers are a class of nanocellulose that are favored in materials applications because of their desirable chemical, mechanical, and environmental properties. However, the isolation of these materials from biomass remains a challenge because of toxic chemicals and high-energy specialized machines required.
• The inventors have developed a new process to isolate cellulose nanofibers from the well characterized grass biomass source miscanthus X. Giganteas. The process uses cheap, non-toxic chemicals, does not require any mechanical treatment, and produces materials with enhanced properties.
• The invention is a process for isolating cellulose nanofibers from a grass biomass requiring only: 1) bleach pretreatment, 2) oxidation with ammonium persulfate and 3) ultrasonication. The process uses far cheaper and less toxic treatment chemicals and requires less specialized equipment than current methods.
• In proof-of-concept experiments, the inventors used their process to isolate cellulose nanofibers with a height of 3.8nm and a length of 880nm. The resulting nanofibers had a tensile strength of 89.19MPa and formed a gel in DMF suspension with a concentration as low as 0.6%wt.

FIGURE

Cellulose nanofibers dissolved in DMF at different weight percentages (shown in white). Compositions above 0.6% form a gel in solution after sitting for 24 hours, an important property which enables easy material modification and processing.

ADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES

• Does not require expensive and high-energy equipment
• Input chemicals are non-toxic and inexpensive
• Nanofibers gel at low concentrations and are easily processed

APPLICATIONS

• Materials science: stand-alone material or additive
• Automotive
• Packaging
• Paper
• Construction
• Aerospace
• Filtration

PUBLICATIONS

• Yang, et al. Preparation of cellulose nanofibers from Miscanthus x. Giganteus by ammonium persulfate oxidation. Carbohydrate polymers. 212 (2019) 30-39.

Dec 12, 2019

Licensing,Co-development

Patent Pending

Small scale proof of concept|Ready for scale up

Stuart Rowan