Although hemicellulose is found widely in nature, it is currently under-utilized as a raw material for commercial applications. It would be desirable to find new uses for hemicellulose in order to add value to this agro-based material. A common type of hemicellulose is xylan, which can be extracted from plant cell walls, woody tissues, and byproducts such as cottonseed hull. In our laboratories, we have looked at several approaches whereby this agro-based raw material can be utilized in new ways. In this presentation, two approaches will be described. One approach involved the reaction of xylan with tolylene-2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) to form a polyurethane. Because xylan had multiple OH groups on each chain, the TDI/xylan molar ratio had to be adjusted in order to produce a soluble polymeric product. The reaction products were characterized by 13C NMR, FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. The xylan polyurethane was shown to exhibit improved thermal stability when compared to xylan alone. In the second approach, xylan was derivatized with appropriate reagents to render them cationic and anionic. The polymers were characterized by 13C NMR, FT-IR, size exclusion chromatography, and rheology. Interestingly, the combination of the cationic and the anionic xylan was found to increase the dry strength of paper.

Preparation and characterization of hemicellulose-derived materials

2019 Fall National Meeting

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