Fundamental Understanding of Cellulose Dissolution Can Improve the Efficiency of Biomass Processing

Ghasemi, Mohammad Reza

doi:10.19080/artoaj.2018.15.555985

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 34 publications

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“…However, the degree of cellulose dissolution depends on the solvent and is greatly impacted by the physicochemical parameters of cellulose, such as MW and crystallinity [ 1 , 22 ]. Improvement of cellulose dissolution is sought through different pre-treatments to reduce the particle size and facilitate solvent diffusion between cellulosic chains [ 23 ], reduce the MW to enhance the entropic driving force of dissolution [ 24 ], and reduce the crystallinity (i.e., facilitate amorphization) to increase the effective surface area [ 25 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Microwave Plasma Pre-Treatment on Cotton Cellulose Dissolution

et al. 2022

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The utilization of cellulose to its full potential is constrained by its recalcitrance to dissolution resulting from the rigidity of polymeric chains, high crystallinity, high molecular weight, and extensive intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding network. Therefore, pretreatment of cellulose is usually considered as a step that can help facilitate its dissolution. We investigated the use of microwave oxygen plasma as a pre-treatment strategy to enhance the dissolution of cotton fibers in aqueous NaOH/Urea solution, which is considered to be a greener solvent system compared to others. Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Powder X-ray Diffraction analyses revealed that plasma pretreatment of cotton cellulose leads to physicochemical changes of cotton fibers. Pretreatment of cotton cellulose with oxygen plasma for 20 and 40 min resulted in the reduction of the molecular weight of cellulose by 36% and 60% and crystallinity by 16% and 25%, respectively. This reduction in molecular weight and crystallinity led to a 34% and 68% increase in the dissolution of 1% (w/v) cotton cellulose in NaOH/Urea solvent system. Thus, treating cotton cellulose with microwave oxygen plasma alters its physicochemical properties and enhanced its dissolution.

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