Miscanthus Giganteus: A commercially viable sustainable source of cellulose nanocrystals

Elvis Cudjoe; Mo Hunsen; Zhaojun Xue; Amanda E Way; Elizabeth Barrios; Rebecca A Olson; Michael J A Hore; Stuart J Rowan

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.08.049

Miscanthus Giganteus: A commercially viable sustainable source of cellulose nanocrystals

Carbohydr Polym. 2017 Jan 2:155:230-241. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.08.049. Epub 2016 Aug 20.

Authors

Elvis Cudjoe¹, Mo Hunsen², Zhaojun Xue¹, Amanda E Way¹, Elizabeth Barrios¹, Rebecca A Olson¹, Michael J A Hore¹, Stuart J Rowan³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2100 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
² Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2100 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA; Department of Chemistry, Kenyon College, 101 Scott Lane, Gambier, OH 43022, USA.
³ Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2100 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA; Institute for Molecular Engineering and Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: stuartrowan@uchicago.edu.

PMID: 27702508
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.08.049

Abstract

With a goal of identifying a new scalable source for cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), we successfully isolated CNCs from a sustainable, non-invasive grass, Miscanthus x. Giganteus (MxG). Subjecting MxG stalks to base hydrolysis, bleaching and acid hydrolysis allowed access to cellulose nanocrystals (MxG-CNC) in high yields. X-ray diffraction studies showed the crystallinity of the MxG-CNCs increased with subsequent treatment conditions (>90% after HCl hydrolysis). Transmission electron microscopy showed that the MxG-CNC exhibit relatively high aspect ratios (60-70), and small angle neutron scattering showed the crystals were ribbon-like with a width and thickness of 8.5 and 2.8nm respectively. As expected, thermomechanical analysis of nanocomposites fabricated with carboxylic acid functionalized MxG-CNC (MxG-CNC-COOH) and PVAc showed an increase in modulus (above T_g) as filler content was increased. Comparing the properties to PVAc nanocomposites containing CNCs from wood showed at least as good, if not slightly better, reinforcement at the same loading level.

Keywords: Cellulose nanocrystals; Hydrolysis; Miscanthus x. Giganteus; Nanocellulose; Nanocomposites; Sustainable.