Fast and quantitative compositional analysis of hybrid cellulose-based regenerated fibers using thermogravimetric analysis and chemometrics

Abstract

Cellulose can be dissolved with another biopolymer in a protic ionic liquid and spun into a bicomponent hybrid cellulose fiber using the Ioncell® technology. Inside the hybrid fibers, the biopolymers are mixed at the nanoscale, and the second biopolymer provides the produced hybrid fiber new functional properties that can be fine-tuned by controlling its share in the fiber. In the present work, we present a fast and quantitative thermoanalytical method for the compositional analysis of man-made hybrid cellulose fibers by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in combination with chemometrics. First, we incorporated 0–46 wt.% of lignin or chitosan in the hybrid fibers. Then, we analyzed their thermal decomposition behavior in a TGA device following a simple, one-hour thermal treatment protocol. With an analogy to spectroscopy, we show that the derivative thermogram can be used as a predictor in a multivariate regression model for determining the share of lignin or chitosan in the cellulose hybrid fibers. The method generated cross validation errors in the range 1.5–2.1 wt.% for lignin and chitosan. In addition, we discuss how the multivariate regression outperforms more common modeling methods such as those based on thermogram deconvolution or on linear superposition of reference thermograms. Moreover, we highlight the versatility of this thermoanalytical method—which could be applied to a wide range of composite materials, provided that their components can be thermally resolved—and illustrate it with an additional example on the measurement of polyester content in cellulose and polyester fiber blends. The method could predict the polyester content in the cellulose-polyester fiber blends with a cross validation error of 1.94 wt.% in the range of 0–100 wt.%. Finally, we give a list of recommendations on good experimental and modeling practices for the readers who want to extend the application of this thermoanalytical method to other composite materials.

Advances, Synergy, and Perspectives of Machine Learning and Biobased Polymers for Energy, Fuels, and Biochemicals for a Sustainable Future

“…Future research could use ML to model and predict the behavior of biopolymer composites, blends, and hybrids. 85,202,203 This would enable the development of materials with tailored properties for specific uses, such as biocompatible medical devices or high-performance construction materials.…”

“…Furthermore, understanding the interactions between biopolymers and other materials is crucial for broadening their application scope. Future research could use ML to model and predict the behavior of biopolymer composites, blends, and hybrids. ,, This would enable the development of materials with tailored properties for specific uses, such as biocompatible medical devices or high-performance construction materials.…”

Towards sustainable textile sector: Fractionation and separation of cotton/ polyester fibers from blended textile waste

“…Scaling up sorting of waste textiles using new technologies should be a major step forward, since this process is still being conducted manually in most cases, hyperspectral near-infrared imaging is now being tested to distinguish polyester and/or cellulose in blends [106][107][108][109]. Additionally, near-infrared imaging spectroscopy and chemometrics have been used recently to identify cellulose materials, including cotton and regenerated cellulose fibers (not blended with polyester) [110].…”

Progress, Challenge, and Perspective of Fabricating Cellulose

“…For example, cellulose nitrate (also known as celluloid) as an exemplary esterification product, has wide applications in plastics, coating, explosive and lacquers. [26] Given such attractive properties, much reviews or book chapters have been published to summary recent advancements of cellulose, especially in advanced characterization technology, [27][28][29] extraction methods from biomass, in particular the preparation of cellulose with one or two dimensions in nanometers (hereafter known as nanocellulose), [30][31][32] and advanced functional applications in composites, biomedical, electronics, and energy storage. [33][34][35][36][37] However, the summary of fabrication methods is not covered, especially the development of thermoplastics processing of cellulose.…”