Lignocellulosic micro/nanofibers from wood sawdust applied to recycled fibers for the production of paper bags

Quim Tarrés; Neus Pellicer; Ana Balea; Noemi Merayo; Carlos Negro; Angeles Blanco; Marc Delgado-Aguilar; Pere Mutjé

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.07.092

Lignocellulosic micro/nanofibers from wood sawdust applied to recycled fibers for the production of paper bags

Int J Biol Macromol. 2017 Dec;105(Pt 1):664-670. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.07.092. Epub 2017 Jul 20.

Authors

Quim Tarrés¹, Neus Pellicer², Ana Balea³, Noemi Merayo⁴, Carlos Negro⁵, Angeles Blanco⁶, Marc Delgado-Aguilar⁷, Pere Mutjé⁸

Affiliations

¹ Group LEPAMAP, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Girona, c/M. Aurèlia Campmany 61, 17071 Girona, Spain. Electronic address: joaquimagusti.tarres@udg.edu.
² Group LEPAMAP, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Girona, c/M. Aurèlia Campmany 61, 17071 Girona, Spain. Electronic address: neus.pellicer@udg.edu.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Complutense University of Madrid, Avda Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: anabalea@ucm.es.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Complutense University of Madrid, Avda Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: nmerayoc@ucm.es.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, Complutense University of Madrid, Avda Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: cnegro@ucm.es.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, Complutense University of Madrid, Avda Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: ablanco@ucm.es.
⁷ Group LEPAMAP, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Girona, c/M. Aurèlia Campmany 61, 17071 Girona, Spain. Electronic address: m.delgado@udg.edu.
⁸ Group LEPAMAP, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Girona, c/M. Aurèlia Campmany 61, 17071 Girona, Spain. Electronic address: pere.mutje@udg.edu.

PMID: 28735007
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.07.092

Abstract

In the present work, lignocellulosic micro/nanofibers (LCMNF) were produced from pine sawdust. For that, pine sawdust was submitted to alkali treatment and subsequent bleaching stages, tailoring its chemical composition with the purpose of obtaining effective LCMNF. The obtained LCMNF were characterized and incorporated to recycled cardboard boxes with the purpose of producing recycled paper. The obtained results showed that it was possible to obtain LCMNF with the same reinforcing potential than those cellulose nanofibers (CNF) prepared by oxidative or other chemical methods In fact, the obtained papers increased the breaking length of recycled cardboard from 3338m to 5347m, being a value significantly higher than the requirements to produce paper bags. Overall, the studied strategies could allow a significant reduction of paper basis weight, with the consequent material saving and, thus, contribution to the environment.

Keywords: Lignocellulosic micro/nanofibers; Paper bag; Papermaking; Recycled fibers.

MeSH terms

Lignin / chemistry*
Nanofibers / chemistry*
Paper*
Recycling*
Wood / chemistry*

Substances

lignocellulose
Lignin