Fibrillation of Aspen by Alkaline Cold Pre-treatment and Vibration Milling

Authors

  • Kärt KÄRNER Centre for Materials Research, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
  • Matti ELOMAA
  • Urve KALLAVUS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.3.7412

Keywords:

SEM, cellulose, fibrillation, alkaline cold treatment, nanocellulose, MFC, vibration milling

Abstract

In this article an attempt to fibrillate aspen bleached chemi-thermo mechanical pulp (BCTMP) fibre in an environmentally friendly way is reported. The effects of various NaOH, KOH, urea and ethanol aqueous solutions at lowered temperature were tested for pre-treatment. The pre-treatment was followed by vibration milling aiming to peel off outer cell wall layers and to fibrillate S2 layer of the aspen wood fibre. The effects of the treatments were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that it is possible to fibrillate BCTMP aspen fibres by using alkaline aqueous solutions at low temperatures followed by a mechanical treatment. A strong dependence on fibrillation of cellulose on temperature, time and alkali concentration was established.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.3.7412

Author Biography

Kärt KÄRNER, Centre for Materials Research, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

Centre for Materials Research

Downloads

Published

2016-09-01

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 3 (2016)

Section

POLYMERS AND COMPOSITES, WOOD

License

 

The copyrights for articles in this journal are retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open-access journal, articles are free to use with proper attribution in educational and other non-commercial settings.