Package industry is demanding new type of cellulose-based materials for producing food and goods packages that are biobased, biodegradable, and recyclable. In this study, we investigated the utilization of the partial dissolution with an ionic liquid to fusion (“chemoweld”) fiber networks (paper) to produce fusioned papers with high dry and wet strength. The IL-fusion was carried out by using [EMIM]OAc that was impregnated into the pre-made fiber network with an assistance of a co-solvent (water). The use of the co-solvent made it possible to transport the ionic liquid evenly throughout the fiber network. The IL-fusion was performed by first evaporating the co-solvent in an oven, followed by a partial dissolution of the fibre surfaces. The IL-fusion between fibers was performed subsequently with a regeneration in water and drying under compression. It was observed that the IL-fusion intensity was possible to be tuned with the treatment conditions. The IL-fusion triplicated the dry strength of the original paper. Moreover, the IL-fusion improved the wet strength of paper. The harshest IL-fusion condition transformed the paper into a transparent cellulose film, with properties that were similar to the commercial cellophane film, and also had excellent oxygen and grease barrier features. The biodegradability studies show that the produced material is biodegradable in both nature and industrial composting conditions. The studied method makes it possible to produce new type of paper products to paper and regenerated cellulose based packaging applications.       <br/>

Fusion of fiber networks with ionic liquids to produce new type of cellulose materials for biodegradable packaging applications

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.