Elucidating the hornification mechanism of cellulosic fibers during the process of thermal drying

Wenxuan Mo; Kefu Chen; Xuan Yang; Fangong Kong; Jiangyan Liu; Bo Li

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119434

Elucidating the hornification mechanism of cellulosic fibers during the process of thermal drying

Carbohydr Polym. 2022 Aug 1:289:119434. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119434. Epub 2022 Apr 1.

Authors

Wenxuan Mo¹, Kefu Chen¹, Xuan Yang¹, Fangong Kong², Jiangyan Liu³, Bo Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, Plant Fiber Research Center, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, 250353, China.
³ Hubei Key Laboratory of Pollutant Analysis & Reuse Technology (Hubei Normal University), Huangshi, 435002, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, Plant Fiber Research Center, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510640, China; State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, 250353, China; Hubei Key Laboratory of Pollutant Analysis & Reuse Technology (Hubei Normal University), Huangshi, 435002, China. Electronic address: ppboli@scut.edu.cn.

PMID: 35483847
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119434

Abstract

Drying-induced hornification is an inevitable phenomenon of cellulosic fibers, which is used to describe internal aggregation structure changes of cellulosic fibers upon drying or water removal. To investigate the hornification process, never-dried cellulosic fibers with different components were thermally dried to different moisture contents. The results indicated that the hornification process could be divided into four stages, including the first crystallization period (>70% moisture), the cocrystallization period (70-31% moisture), the hemicellulose control period (31-11% moisture), and the second crystallization period (11-0% moisture). The decrease of water retention value (WRV) occurred in the cocrystallization period and the second crystallization period, which meant hornification happened in these two periods. Besides, hemicellulose and lignin inhibited hornification by reducing cellulose cocrystallization. The work elucidates the hornification process and mechanism of cellulosic fibers,which will be helpful to control the properties of cellulosic materials for extended utilization.

Keywords: Cellulosic fiber; Cocrystallization; Crystallization; Hornification; Process; Thermal drying.

MeSH terms

Cellulose* / chemistry
Crystallization
Desiccation*
Lignin
Water / chemistry

Substances

Water
Cellulose
Lignin