An energy efficient production of high moisture barrier nanocellulose/carboxymethyl cellulose films via spray-deposition technique

Humayun Nadeem; Mahdi Naseri; Kirubanandan Shanmugam; Mostafa Dehghani; Christine Browne; Simin Miri; Gil Garnier; Warren Batchelor

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116911

An energy efficient production of high moisture barrier nanocellulose/carboxymethyl cellulose films via spray-deposition technique

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Dec 15:250:116911. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116911. Epub 2020 Aug 14.

Authors

Humayun Nadeem¹, Mahdi Naseri¹, Kirubanandan Shanmugam¹, Mostafa Dehghani¹, Christine Browne¹, Simin Miri¹, Gil Garnier¹, Warren Batchelor²

Affiliations

¹ Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA), Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, VIC, 3800, Australia.
² Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA), Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, VIC, 3800, Australia. Electronic address: Warren.Batchelor@monash.edu.

PMID: 33049886
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116911

Abstract

Nanocellulose (NC) films are considered as a prospective alternative to non-sustainable packaging materials, however, their higher embodied energy and limited moisture barrier properties are regarded as a huge constraint regarding their commercialization. This study aims to produce films with relatively low environmental impact and improved barrier performance. For this purpose, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and NC were combined, and this resulted in multidimensional advantages. The mass production of films could be achieved in only 2 h (requiring at least 24 h under ambient conditions) when dried in an oven at 75 °C with enhanced mechanical properties and without compromising their dimensional stability. The moisture barrier properties of the NC/CMC films were improved up to 92 % compared with the NC films alone and the results achieved are comparable with packaging materials such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonates (PC) etc. Finally, the NC/CMC (1:1) films have low environmental impact compared with PET films.

Keywords: Carboxymethyl cellulose; Drying; Embodied energy; Nanocellulose; Packaging; Spray deposition.