Effect of moisture content on thermal and water absorption properties of microfibrillar cellulose with polymeric additives

Deepa Agarwal; William MacNaughtan; Roger Ibbett; Tim J Foster

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.02.004

Effect of moisture content on thermal and water absorption properties of microfibrillar cellulose with polymeric additives

Carbohydr Polym. 2019 May 1:211:91-99. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.02.004. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

Authors

Deepa Agarwal¹, William MacNaughtan², Roger Ibbett², Tim J Foster³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK; The New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food Research, Canterbury Agriculture & Science Centre, Gerald St, Lincoln, 7608, New Zealand. Electronic address: deepa.agarwal@plantandfood.co.nz.
² Division of Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK.
³ Division of Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, UK. Electronic address: tim.foster@nottingham.ac.uk.

PMID: 30824108
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.02.004

Abstract

The aim of this study was 1) to investigate the influence of polymeric additives such as carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) and locust bean gum (LBG) added before and after homogenisation on the moisture uptake of microfibrillar cellulose (MFC) in the dry and semi-wet state; and 2) to further understand the thermally induced structural transitions of low moisture MFC in the presence of the polymeric additives. A higher moisture content in the highly dense MFC network maintains the fibrillated network structure, which is lost during the drying process resulting in MFC aggregates. The addition of polymeric additives results in the regaining of the structure upon redispersion of the dry material with CMC being more effective than LBG). Results also indicated that CMC has a high level of compatibility with MFC, whereas LBG appears to have limited distribution in the MFC dense microfibrillar network and probably exists as a separate phase when added after homogenisation, however co-processing of LBG and cellulose significantly changed this behaviour. The presence of low-temperature transitions in MFC/additives/water mixtures indicates the involvement of these semi-flexible polymeric additives in the formation of liquid crystals when added to MFC in low moisture environments (2% and 20% w/w). An insight is offered into the theory of surface interactions between MFC and polymeric additives, which prevents the agglomeration of microfibrils present in the highly fibrillated suspension upon drying.

Keywords: Carboxymethyl cellulose; DSC; DVS; Locust bean gum; MFC; TGA.