Abstract
This paper reports on a flowable lignocellulosic thermoplastic prepared from forestry biomass by solvent-free acetylation. The non-solvent approach relies upon a functionalizing agent derived from benzethonium chloride (hyamine) and sulfuric acid, which was chose for its similar wetting attributes to an ionic liquid for the lignocellulose but was much less expensive to use. Besides acetylation, this functionalizing agent became chemically bonded to the lignocellulose by the sulfate group formed in situ, as demonstrated by 13C NMR, infrared and elemental analysis. This attached species appeared to contribute strongly to the flowable nature of the product. The modified material showed good melt flowability by compression molding, as demonstrated in this study by the production of semi-transparent films and was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. An experimental investigation of reaction parameters was included in the study, exploring the mechanism by which the cationic functionalizing agent modified the structure of lignocellulose.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded under the “Clean Manufacturing and Nano-engineering of Sustainable Materials” Ontario Research Fund (ORF) Grant (#07-41) led by Dr. Sain at the University of Toronto. The authors are also grateful to Sonja Hadzidedic at Xerox Research Center of Canada, and Dr. Zhicheng Pan at McMaster University for their technical help on the nitrogen and sulfur elemental analysis.
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The authors associated with McMaster University declare no conflict of interest. David J. W. Lawton is an employee of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, a division of Xerox Canada.
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Li, J., Zhang, H., Sacripante, G.G. et al. Solvent-free modification of lignocellulosic wood pulp into a melt-flowable thermoplastic. Cellulose 28, 1055–1069 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03589-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03589-6