As sustainability is widely recognized as a major global challenge, the scientific and industrial communities around the world are actively searching for effective strategy and pathways to reduce the environmental impact of products, processes, and lifestyles. It is important to develop viable raw materials wwith reduced carbon footprints. Among the available renewable raw materials, cellulose is highly attractive due to low cost, abundance, and wide availability around the world. From a material application standpoint, utilizing cellulose as a starting material for making thermoplastic polymers is highly preferred over food-based feedstocks such as starch, vegetable oils, plant proteins, etc.<br/><br/>Cellulose has been made into films (cellophane) and fibers (rayon), but the technologies used are high-cost and high-environmental footprint processes which involve multiple-steps to produce soluble cellulose derivatives first and then regenerate cellulose. Utilization of cellulose as a thermoplastic material was rarely explored since cellulose is not thermoplastic. In this paper, cellulose derivatives possessing limited thermoplastic properties were investigated for developing renewable materials. The thermal properties and rheological properties of cellulose esters were evaluated. The thermoplastically processed cellulosic films had high tensile strength but low ductility. In order to improve the mechanical properties of the films, a series of polymer blends with a biodegradable polymer were prepared. It was found that the films made from the polymer blends exhibited improved ductility over the cellulosic films. Interesting changes in properties substantially different from the starting polymers were found.  This research has demonstrated the potential for developing thermoplastic renewable materials from non-food based cellulose, but significant research is still needed to fully understand the structure-property relationship and application potential.

Renewable thermoplastic materials from cellulose

249th National Meeting (2015)

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