Industrial Application of Nanocelluloses in Papermaking: A Review of Challenges, Technical Solutions, and Market Perspectives

Abstract

Nanocelluloses (NC) increase mechanical and barrier paper properties allowing the use of paper in applications actually covered by other materials. Despite the exponential increase of information, NC have not been fully implemented in papermaking yet, due to the challenges of using NC. This paper provides a review of the main new findings and emerging possibilities in this field by focusing mainly on: (i) Decoupling the effects of NC on wet-end and paper properties by using synergies with retention aids, chemical modification, or filler preflocculation; (ii) challenges and solutions related to the incorporation of NC in the pulp suspension and its effects on barrier properties; and (iii) characterization needs of NC at an industrial scale. The paper also includes the market perspectives. It is concluded that to solve these challenges specific solutions are required for each paper product and process, being the wet-end optimization the key to decouple NC effects on drainage and paper properties. Furthermore, the effect of NC on recyclability must also be taken into account to reach a compromise solution. This review helps readers find upscale options for using NC in papermaking and identify further research needs within this field.

Nanocellulose: From Fundamentals to Advanced Applications

“…In the subsequent sections, we shed light on current trends and recent research on the use of nanocellulose with special emphasis on nanocomposites, medical, Pickering emulsifiers, wood adhesives, adsorption, separation, decontamination, and filtration applications, to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of the advanced science and engineering of nanocellulose-based emerging materials and uses. Other emerging applications of nanocellulose such as papermaking, oil and gas drilling and cementing, energy storage systems, sensors and biosensors, which have been extensively reviewed in recent years (Du X. et al, 2017;Chen et al, 2018;Kim J. H. et al, 2019;Tayeb and Tayeb, 2019;Balea et al, 2020;Dai et al, 2020;Lasrado et al, 2020;Ramasamy and Amanullah, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020), are excluded and they are beyond the scope of the present review. It is expected that this review will forge new directions for the preparation of NC as well as the design and production of new NC-based materials for widespread advanced applications.…”

Nanocelluloses and Related Materials Applicable in Thermal Management of Electronic Devices: A Review

“…Herein, we have used the terms CNF, CNC and BNC. Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), that possess heterogeneous network structures with widths less than 100 nm, can be prepared from wood pulp by mechanical disintegration treatments [23]. Since the mechanical processes are expensive, chemical or enzymatic pretreatments are often carried out to facilitate fibers separation.…”

Comparison Of Mechanical And Chemical Nanocellulose As Additives To Reinforce Recycled Cardboard

“…Flocculation and floc properties of OCC containing CMF/CNF were studied according to the methodology developed by Blanco et al 61 . Decoupling the effects of NC on wet-end and paper properties by using synergies with retention aids, chemical modification, or filler preflocculation is a challenge for the industrial use of CMF/CNF in papermaking 62 . The evolution of flocculation process was monitored in real time by using an M500L focused beam reflectance measurement probe (FBRM) from Mettler Toledo (Columbus, USA) which provides every 5 s a chord length distribution of suspended solids with dimensions between 1 and 1000 µm.…”