Fossil-derived cushioning products such as expanded polystyrene and polyurethane use hazardous precursors and are not environmentally friendly. High-performance cushioning alternatives from renewable biomass such as wood are of great research interest due to their biodegradability and biocompatibility features. Inspired by the natural composite structure of wood and its intrinsic features of high-strength to weight ratio, good thermal and sound insulation, and energy-absorbing capacity, biofoams from wood biopolymers have been developed. Fully biobased composites of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and technical lignins were processed by directional ice-templating to obtain mechanically strong anisotropic foams. The overall compressive performance of the anisotropic composite foams with 98 wt.% technical lignin and 2 wt.% CNFs were superior to the mechanical performance of commercial, low-density fossil-derived polyurethane foams. Reasons behind this mechanical reinforcement will be discussed in this presentation. In particular, the influence of the chemistry of the selected technical lignins, specifically the degree of sulfonates, on the overall compressive performance of the composite foams will be the focus of this presentation.<br/>In addition to high mechenical performance, these same CNF/lignin composite foams also displayed ca. 2-fold higher biodegradability than the fossil-derived foams in a marine inoculum. The findings of this study thus open new avenues for the utilization of fully biobased composites of woody-biopolymers for cushioning applications with tunable structure and excellent material performance.

Mechanically strong and biodegradable anisotropic composite foams of technical lignin and cellulose nanofibrils

ACS Spring 2022

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