Volume 10 Issue 2

Intrinsically conductive bamboo products were polymerized by the impregnation of an aniline monomer solution into a bamboo substrate and the in situ polymerization of PANI to obtain a semi-conducting material; the bamboo products thus obtained combined characteristics of conductivity of the PANI polymer and the strength of natural bamboo. Light microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy images showed that PANI was uniformly dispersed within the cell lumen and cell wall of the bamboo substrate. The weight percent gain and volume bulk increase of the modified bamboo were 5.18 and 14.9%, respectively. Equilibrium uptake studies showed that the modified bamboo was less hydrophilic, caused by the addition of hydrophobic PANI. The electrical conductivity of the bamboo/PANI composite ranged from 3 × 10^-4 to 1 × 10^–3 S cm^-1, which was tuned by changing the phosphate acid concentration. Fourier transform infrared spectra revealed that PANI was closely polymerized onto the cell wall, allowed by the accessibility of the amine groups of the aniline monomer to the hydroxyl groups of the bamboo matrix. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that after the in situ polymerization of PANI, the bamboo cellulose maintained a classic cellulose structure, while its degree of crystallinity was decreased.

The aim of this work was to make biodegradable plastics from renewable resources. Paper-based biodegradable plastics were produced via a sol-gel process by using zinc chloride solution. The optimum conditions were a zinc chloride concentration of 65%, reaction temperature of 70 °C, reaction time of 5 s, aging time of 3 h, and glycerol concentration of 10%. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that no chemical reaction occurred and the crystal form of the cellulose remained cellulose I, but the degree of crystallinity decreased. Compared to other biodegradable plastics, these paper-based biodegradable plastics had better mechanical properties and greater biodegradability.

In recent years, concerns about environmental waste caused by petroleum-derived chemicals as well as the consumer’s demand for high quality food products, have prompted people to pay more attention to developing biodegradable food packaging materials using natural resources such as cellulose fibers and chitin derivatives. In this study, chitin whiskers have been successfully generated by hydrolyzing the α-chitin sample. Then the synthesized nano-sized chitin whiskers were used at ratios from 0.1% to 2% (wt%) for improving strength properties of paper sheets by the dip-coating method. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were used to investigate the morphology of chitin whiskers and cellulose fiber compounds. The results showed that coating with chitin whiskers brought about an increase in tear strength, burst strength, and wet and dry tensile strength, with a decrease in Zeta-potential value.

Hot water extraction (HWE) prior to pulping of wood is a promising method in constructing a platform for traditional pulping or for biorefinery processing. In this study, HWE of aspen wood at a maximum reaction temperature (Treaction) between 140 and 180 ºC was investigated to obtain an optimal extraction condition for wood-derived products. The effect of extraction temperature and reaction time on the extraction performance of the chemical constituents was evaluated, and the degradation and redeposition of lignin and carbohydrates during the HWE process were assessed. Results showed that a minimum Treaction of 160 ºC was necessary for satisfactory carbohydrate removal. The dissolution and readsorption of sugars reached a balance, such that no more sugars in pre-extraction liquor (PEL) were adsorbed on the wood surface under more severe extraction conditions. The reduction of sugars dissolved in PEL should result from the formation of furfural or its derivatives. At the final extraction stage, the dissolved lignin in PEL could redeposit on the exothecium rather than the endothecium of the wood chips.

Rice husk and sawdust were selected as the raw materials for a study of biomass char yield in the range of 600 to 900 °C. It was found that temperature was the primary factor affecting the biomass char yield. The yield of the rice husk and sawdust chars decreased significantly with increasing temperature. As the residence time increased, the biomass char yield decreased. The smaller the size of the biomass particles, the higher the char yield. When the temperature exceeded 800 °C, the difference in the char yield was only slight. Given this finding, the surface morphologies of rice husk, sawdust, and their respective chars were investigated under various conditions via scanning electron microscopy. The effects of temperature on the pore structures were investigated by the Accelerated Surface Area and Porosimetry System. There were more holes in the biomass char, and the specific surface area was increased significantly as the temperature increased. The specific surface areas of rice husk and sawdust chars prepared at 900 °C were 320 and 1140 m2/g, respectively.

Pyrogallol, as an important chemical raw material and reagent, has been prepared by the decarboxylation reaction of gallic acid hydrolyzing tannin acid extracted from Chinese gall, but the decarboxylation reaction is known to cause serious environmental pollution. To obtain efficient strains to degrade gallic acid, a screening study was carried out to explore different strains and optimal fermentation conditions of single impact factors, as well as using response surface methodology. The antioxidant bioactivity of products containing pyrogallol in the fermentation medium was also estimated. The results indicated that Enterobacter aerogenes could degrade gallic acid into pyrogallol with 77.86% average yield under the optimal fermentation conditions of an inoculum size of 5%, substrate concentration of 0.32%, incubation period of 60 h, fermentation temperature of 32 °C, content of phosphate buffer at 25%, and an initial pH of 6.0 in fermentation medium. The products contained 66.5% pyrogallol and were tested for their antioxidant capacity. They proved to have stronger antioxidant capacity compared with ABTS, BHT, and even Vc. In conclusion, the study provided a simple, highly efficient method, superior to complex genetic engineering technologies, to degrade gallic acid into pyrogallol, suggesting the possibility of large-scale production in the future.

A combination of reinforcements at different levels can have a synergetic effect on the final properties of a composite. The aim of this work was to produce, evaluate, and compare the wet/dry cycling durability of the exposure of cement composites reinforced with conventional pulps at the micro-scale level, with nanofibrillated cellulose fibers at the nano-scale level, and with combinations of both reinforcements (hybrid composites). To evaluate the durability of their mechanical properties, the composites were tested under flexural loading after 28 days of humidity chamber curing and after 20 wet/dry accelerating aging cycles. Composites reinforced with the nanofibrillated cellulose exhibited significantly higher flexural strength and flexural modulus, but they had lower fracture energy values than those reinforced with conventional sisal fibers. Moreover, the hybrid composites with a high content of nanofibrillated cellulose maintained or even improved their properties after aging.

In this study, the strength and stiffness was measured on paper sheets with and without acryl ester functionalization grafted with UV-reactive molecules. Three different monomers with one, two, and three UV-reactive groups, respectively, were reacted with the unsaturated ester. The tri-functional monomer had the most influence on the strength properties of the three monomers and was added in concentrations of 5 to 20 wt% of paper (0.03-0.11 mol eq./AGU). The strength and stiffness properties were measured with tensile tests. An increase in elongation, tensile index, and Young’s modulus was seen after irradiation. However, the paper sheets esterified with acrylic acid prior to radiation showed no improvement in stiffness compared to a non-treated paper. As a result, the esterification with acrylic acid to enhance the grafting effect did not have the ability to compensate for the loss in strength caused by the esterification treatment.

Wood-based composite panels generally are first tested out-of-plane in the primary panel direction followed by the cross panel direction, but rarely edgewise. While most applications use wood-based composites in the flat-wise orientation and only need the out-of-plane properties, there are construction configurations where edgewise properties are needed for improved design configurations. A square cantilever beam was used to determine the apparent stiffness (EI) and modulus of elasticity (E) differences for 3 wood-based composite panel materials. Specimens were cut along the primary panel direction or machine direction (MD) and perpendicular to the primary direction or cross-machine direction (CD). The square specimens were first non-destructively tested oriented in the normal or out-of-plane position, then rotated 90 degrees to measure edgewise properties. The results for a 20 mm thick medium density fiberboard (MDF) showed that the MD properties were 56% higher than the CD properties. The other two composite materials, 12 mm thick particleboard (PB) and 12 mm thick MDF, were essentially the same in the MD or CD directions. For all the materials, the differences between the out-of-plane and the edgewise loading directions showed higher EI and E between 17 to 61%, respectively. The largest difference was found in the PB composite material properties that were between 42 to 61% higher for the out-of-plane properties. For the 12 and 20 mm thick MDF material, in-plane properties were 27 to 33% and 17 to 23% higher, respectively. The cantilever bending method was able to quickly assess the difference using the same specimen.

The effects of natural and synthetic polymer additives on the properties of ultrafiltration membranes were studied. The use of NaOH to remove the residual additive remaining in the membranes during coagulation was also investigated, as was the effect of NaOH post-treatment relative to membrane performance. To evaluate the residual additives present, ATR-FTIR was used. Contact-angle analysis and water-absorption experiments were used to examine the hydrophilic properties of the prepared membranes. Membranes modified with lignin (Lig) were found to absorb more water (94% water uptake) than other membranes. In general, the contact angles were found to be low for membranes treated with NaOH. Membrane permeability was greatest in lignin_polysulfone (Lig_PSf), followed by polyvinylpyrrolidone_polysulfone (PVP_PSf), and with polyethylene glycol_polysulfone (PEG_PSf) the least permeable, similar to the trend observed in water uptake. A ‘Robeson plot’ analogue showed that Lig_PSf membranes had high separation factors regardless of the size of the solute being rejected. This study indicates the feasibility of using cheap, readily available additives to increase the performance of membranes.