Due to population growth and competition for arable land, the global cotton production has reached its maximum, which provides incentives to find alternative fiber sources. About 75% of all man-made fibers is polyester, a non-renewable material derived from oil, whereas the share of cellulosics, a renewable and biodegradable material, is only 9%. Rayon, the main commercial product made from regenerated cellulose, is currently produced at an annual rate of 3.7 million metric tons and valued at over 10 billion USD per year. Cellophane is another common cellulose-derived product that due to its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and water is widely used for food packaging. The global market for flexible packaging materials is steadily expanding and projected to grow to USD 320 billion by 2020. However, both rayon and cellophane are currently produced by xanthation of dissolving pulps using carbon disulfide (CS2), a highly toxic chemical banned in North America and Europe. Other disadvantages related to the use of CS2 include limited dissolving capability, high cost of solvent recovery, uncontrollable side reactions, instability during cellulose processing and/or derivatization, generation of toxic SO2 effluents during cellulose regeneration, etc. We have developed a new, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly (CS2-free) process that overcomes some of the shortcomings of the existing rayon and cellophane technologies. The process is based on a partial oxidation of cellulose that is then crosslinked to obtain cellulosic fibers in the form of textile yarns, or further oxidized to prepare transparent cellulosic biofilms. The water absorption capacity of the produced yarns was comparable to that of cotton and rayon, whereas the strength properties of the new bioplastic material exceeded several times that of cellophane and synthetic plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene  teraphtalate. The new process makes use of both hardwood and softwood pulps, and offers significant cost and yield advantages over dissolving pulp as a raw material. The techno-economic and environmental benefits of the process and the potential applications of the new high-performance cellulosic fibers will be reviewed and discussed.

New eco-friendly high-performance cellulosic fibers for the textile and packaging industries

2019 Spring National Meeting

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