Evaluation of Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Preparation of Cellulose Nanofibers from Woody Biomass

Moon, Dami; Yagishita, Tatsuo; Minowa, Tomoaki; Sun, Xiaozheng

doi:10.13031/trans.56.10040

Cited by 4 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Sun et al [116] assumed a CNF yield of about 80% to 92% of woody biomass and energy usage was much lower than other studies with no chemical inputs. The MiLCA, a Japanese LCA support system-supported by a database, the IDEA (Inventory Database Environmental Analysis) was developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI) [116]-to perform LCAs. GW impacts of CNF estimated by Sun et al [116] and Moon et al [117] were 1.2 to 3.7 and 5.7 to 7.6 kgCO 2 e/kg of CNF, respectively, which were in the range of results produced by Hohenthal et al [114].…”

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…However, most studies consider pulp (kraft pulp or sulfite pulp) as feedstock to produce nanocellulose. Nanocellulose production from woody biomass requires a pulping process to dissolve lignin and hemicellulose [116,117]. Production of nanocellulose (without pre-treatment) is an energy-intensive process, where a large amount of electricity (~27 kWh/kg of nanocellulose) is consumed to break down the crystalline structure of cellulose and defibrillate individual fibers [113,122].…”

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Without pre-treatment of pulp, microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) produced from kraft pulp or sulfite pulp requires about 12 to 70 and 27 kWh/kg of MFC, respectively [113]. Thermo-mechanical [116,117], chemical [115,118,119] and enzymatic [115,121] pre-treatments were proposed to pretreat the pulp/woody biomass to help free up the nanofibers and thus reduce the energy required in the process of nanocellulose extraction. The pre-treatment process (carboxymethylation and enzymatic) can drastically reduce the energy requirement of MFC production (0.5-1.5 kWh/kg of MFC) [113].…”

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pulp production is an energy-intensive process with large environmental impacts. In the Japanese nanocellulose LCA, Sun et al [116] and Moon et al [117] evaluated CNF production from woody biomass considering combined wet disk milling and mild hot-compressed water (HCW) treatment. In the HCW treatment, the acetyl groups of hemicellulose and water itself act as acids, which dissolve both hemicellulose and lignin in woody biomass [123].…”

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the HCW treatment, the acetyl groups of hemicellulose and water itself act as acids, which dissolve both hemicellulose and lignin in woody biomass [123]. Sun et al [116] assumed a CNF yield of about 80% to 92% of woody biomass and energy usage was much lower than other studies with no chemical inputs. The MiLCA, a Japanese LCA support system-supported by a database, the IDEA (Inventory Database Environmental Analysis) was developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI) [116]-to perform LCAs.…”

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review

et al. 2019

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Climate change, environmental degradation, and limited resources are motivations for sustainable forest management. Forests, the most abundant renewable resource on earth, used to make a wide variety of forest-based products for human consumption. To provide a scientific measure of a product’s sustainability and environmental performance, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used. This article provides a comprehensive review of environmental performances of forest-based products including traditional building products, emerging (mass-timber) building products and nanomaterials using attributional LCA. Across the supply chain, the product manufacturing life-cycle stage tends to have the largest environmental impacts. However, forest management activities and logistics tend to have the greatest economic impact. In addition, environmental trade-offs exist when regulating emissions as indicated by the latest traditional wood building product LCAs. Interpretation of these LCA results can guide new product development using biomaterials, future (mass) building systems and policy-making on mitigating climate change. Key challenges include handling of uncertainties in the supply chain and complex interactions of environment, material conversion, resource use for product production and quantifying the emissions released.

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Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Advanced Materials (Nanomaterials or Nanocellulose)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review

et al. 2019

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Boosted output performance of nanocellulose-based triboelectric nanogenerators via device engineering and surface functionalization

Vatankhah

Tadayon

Ramakrishna

2021

Carbohydrate Polymers

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Harmonized Life-Cycle Inventories of Nanocellulose and Its Application in Composites

Kane,

Miller,

Kurtis

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and nanofibers (CNF) have been broadly studied as renewable nanomaterials for various applications, including additives in cement and plastics composites. Herein, life cycle inventories for 18 previously examined processes are harmonized, and the impacts of CNC and CNF production are compared with a particular focus on GHG emissions. Findings show wide variations in GHG emissions between process designs, from 1.8−1100 kg CO 2 -eq/kg nanocellulose. Mechanical and enzymatic processes are identified as the lowest GHG emission methods to produce CNCs and CNFs. For most processes, energy consumption and chemical use are the primary sources of emissions. However, on a mass basis, for all examined production methods and impact categories (except CO emissions), CNC and CNF production emissions are higher than Portland cement and, in most cases, are higher than polylactic acid. This work highlights the need to carefully consider process design to prevent potential high emissions from CNCs and CNF production despite their renewable feedstock, and results show the magnitude of conventional material that must be offset through improved performance for these materials to be environmentally favorable.

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Evaluation of Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Preparation of Cellulose Nanofibers from Woody Biomass

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review

Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review

Boosted output performance of nanocellulose-based triboelectric nanogenerators via device engineering and surface functionalization

Harmonized Life-Cycle Inventories of Nanocellulose and Its Application in Composites

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