A physico-chemical characterisation of new raw materials for microcrystalline cellulose manufacturing

Abstract

A detailed physico-chemical characterisation of potential new cellulose sources (rice husk, hemp stalk, and coniferous needles), and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) manufactured from them, was made in this work. The length and the width of the cellulose crystallites were determined by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), crystallinities were studied by means of WAXS and solid state cross polarisation magic angle spinning 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and the packing and the crosssectional shape of the microfibrils were determined by small-angle X-ray scattering. When MCC was prepared from rice husks and hemp stalks an acceptable yield was obtained. Crystallinities obtained with solid state NMR spectroscopy and WAXS were highest for MCC prepared from hemp stalks, and lowest for rice husk MCC. The crystallite sizes of MCC samples studied in this work varied more than in those MCC samples which were prepared from conventional plant sources, and crystallite size and cellulose crystallinity were related. When taking into account rather high values of specific surface, hemp stalks and rice husks appear as a promising raw materials for MCC production.

Comparative Study of Microcelluloses Isolated From Two Different Biomasses with Commercial Cellulose

“…In previous studies, there have been many comparisons and exploitations made for cellulose from various types of plants (Das et al 2010;Virtanen et al 2012;Chen et al 2015b). However, there have not been any comparisons of the characteristics of MC obtained from different biomasses, such as EFB and SCB.…”

Manufacture of Microcrystalline Cellulose fromEucalyptus globulusWood Using an Environmentally Friendly Biorefinery Method

“…These values are in the ranges determined for other MCC. [10] French and Cintrón [38] reported a nonlinear relationship between the Segal crystallinity index and the mean width of crystallites. The values of mean width for the plane 200 and Segal crystallinity index obtained in this work are in agreement with these calculations.…”

“…[4−8] Several methods were used to isolate MCC from LCMs, including the acid hydrolysis of purified cellulose sources. [9,10] Laka and Chernyavskaya [11] proposed a thermocatalytic method for the production of MCC from bleached sulphate pulps, whereas Jahan et al [12] obtained MCC by acid treatment of jute fibers obtained by formic acid delignification and hydrogen peroxide bleaching. Additionally, other methods based on steam explosion, alkaline extraction, and bleaching have been used for the same purpose.…”

Comparison of Conventional and Lignin-Rich Microcrystalline Cellulose

“…Less typical raw materials such as orange mesocarp (Ejikeme 2008) and pine and spruce needles (Leppänen et al 2009) have been used to produce MCC. Softwood kraft pulp is used as a more common raw material for MCC production (Aranguiz et al 1994;Virtanen et al 2012). All of these materials can be used to manufacture CP as well.…”