Plastic films are widely present in our everyday life, for instance, as packaging material or bags. They are a very versatile, durable, safe, and inexpensive material, but their overconsumption has led to some global challenges. It contributes to the depletion of fossil resources and also results in massive amounts of waste that can end up in water resources, creating a hazard for aquatic biodiversity and, not least, for human health. As an alternative, a sustainable and eco-friendly process to produce cellulose films by means of the Lyocell-type Ioncell® technology was established. Cellulose solutions in a non-toxic ionic liquid (1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene acetate, [DBNH][OAc]) are transformed into films in a continuous mode via dry-jet wet spinning. Thereby, these solutions are extruded through a slit nozzle and are regenerated by immersion into an aqueous coagulation bath, after passing an air gap. Then, the films are led to a motor-driven collecting roll, where the necessary stretching is provided. After the production, the films are washed to remove the retained ionic liquid, and dried. The influence of the cellulose concentration (8, 10 and 13 wt%), spinning temperature (50 to 100 oC) and spinneret geometry in the properties of the films has been studied. The produced films are thin (12 – 21 µm), transparent (transmittance = 91%) and homogeneous. Moreover, they exhibit high mechanical properties: stress values up to 210 MPa and elongation of 19% in machine (longitudinal) direction, which clearly outperform those of commercial cellophane (stress values of 125 MPa and elongation of 22%). Ionphane films, which exhibit outstanding optical and mechanical properties and are produced by a green process from renewable raw materials, hold great potential to become a biodegradable and eco-friendly alternative to commercial films.

Ionphane: Cellulose films by means of the Ioncell® technology

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