Cellulose nanofibril (CNF), a bio-based, biodegradable and sustainable material, has proven in the last decades to be relevant in a wide number of applications. Its mechanical, chemical, rheological or optical properties make it a very interesting material for fields such as packaging, papermaking, biomedical, cosmetics or automotive. It appears today to be one of the answers to the vast question of oil-based materials replacement, and enables to reach new properties for tomorrow’s everyday materials. However CNF industrialization is facing major drawbacks to grow at a large scale, including the poor industrialization of effective fiber pretreatments, and high energy consumption of the mechanical processes.<br/>In this work, the combination of chemical and enzymatic effective pretreatments was studied, to propose new and easily upscalable CNF production processes. The impact of acidic and basic treatments of different strengths on fiber morphology was studied, coupled with different enzymatic cocktails (including endoglucanases with or without cellulose binding domains, exoglucanase, and xylanase). The degree of polymerization, water retention value and crystallinity of the fibers were also studied, highlighting the positive impact of less ordered regions in cellulose for the use of enzymes. CNF were then produced with an ultrafine grinder, and their optical, morphological and physical properties were studied, as well as the impact of the pretreatment on energy consumption.<br/>

Combination of chemical and enzymatic treatment on cellulose fibre properties

2019 Spring National Meeting

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