Obtaining cellulose microfibrils and nanocrystals with chlorine dioxide

The project proposes to develop new oxidative processes based on the usage of chlorine dioxide to convert lignocellulosic biomass into pre-oxidized celluloses, to be fractionated into microfibrillated cellulose (CMF) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC).

The idea is to investigate the chemistry of chlorine dioxide, in order to direct the reactions towards an embrittlement of the fiber, so that the pre-oxidized celluloses can be converted into CMF with lower mechanical energy and/or into CNC with milder acid hydrolysis conditions. The use of ClO2 as main chemical reagent, conventionally applied in papermaking fiber lines, will allow rapid and easy technology transfer to industry.

The optimization of the developed processes will be carried out through a collaborative work between the BioChip and MatBio research groups of LGP2. It will be based on the study of the chemical reaction mechanisms involved and the multi-scale characterization of pre-oxidized celluloses, during and after the fractionation and conversion into CMF and CNC