Corncob arabinoxylan for new materials

Itziar Egüés; Agnes M Stepan; Arantxa Eceiza; Guillermo Toriz; Paul Gatenholm; Jalel Labidi

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2013.11.011

Corncob arabinoxylan for new materials

Carbohydr Polym. 2014 Feb 15:102:12-20. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2013.11.011. Epub 2013 Nov 15.

Authors

Itziar Egüés¹, Agnes M Stepan², Arantxa Eceiza³, Guillermo Toriz⁴, Paul Gatenholm⁵, Jalel Labidi⁶

Affiliations

¹ Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of the Basque Country, Plaza Europa, 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: itziar.egues@ehu.es.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Biopolymer Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden; Wallenberg Wood Science Center, Göteborg, Sweden. Electronic address: agnes.stepan@chalmers.se.
³ Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of the Basque Country, Plaza Europa, 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: arantxa.eceiza@ehu.es.
⁴ Department of Wood, Cellulose and Paper Research, University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico; Wallenberg Wood Science Center, Göteborg, Sweden. Electronic address: guillert@chalmers.se.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Biopolymer Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden; Wallenberg Wood Science Center, Göteborg, Sweden. Electronic address: paul.gatenholm@chalmers.se.
⁶ Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of the Basque Country, Plaza Europa, 1, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: jalel.labidi@ehu.es.

PMID: 24507250
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2013.11.011

Abstract

Corncob agricultural waste was used as a source of arabinoxylan for preparation of films. Three arabinoxylan samples were prepared: crude extract (CCAX), purified by a washing step, and purified by bleaching CCAX. Films prepared with untreated CCAX were water soluble, yellowish in color and had poor mechanical properties. After the purification processes the Young's modulus increased from ∼ 293 MPa to ∼ 1400-1600 MPa, and strength was improved from ∼ 9 MPa to around 53 MPa, while the strain at break was kept at ∼ 8% both in untreated and purified CCAX. The contact angle was increased from ∼ 21.3° to 67-74° after washing or bleaching CCAX. Acetylation of bleached CCAX showed the highest thermal resistance (325 °C), had low Tg (125°C) and a high contact angle (80°), and its films were stronger (strength ∼ 67 MPa; Young's modulus ∼ 2241 MPa) and more flexible (∼ 13%). These characteristics make purified CCAX a suitable material to be used as a matrix for film applications.

Keywords: Acetylation; Arabinoxylan; Corncob; Films; Purification.