Biopolymer cellulose fibers

Abstract Cellulose is the most important biopolymer in Nature and is used in preparation of new compounds. Molecular structure of cellulose is a repeating unit of p-D-glucopyranose molecules forming a linear chain that can have a crystallographic or an amorphous form. Cellulose is insoluble in water, but can dissolve in ionic liquids. Hemicelluloses are the second most abundant polysaccharides in Nature, in which xylan is one of the major constituents of this polymer. There are several sources of cellulose and hemicelluloses, but the most important source is wood. Typical chemical modifications are esterifications and etherifications of hydroxyl groups. TEMPO-mediated oxidation is a good method to promote oxidation of primary hydroxyl groups to aldehyde and carboxylic acids, selectively. Modified cellulose can be used in the pharmaceutical industry as a metal adsorbent. It is used in the preparation of cellulosic fibers and biocomposites such as nanofibrils and as biofuels. 

Cellulosic fiber reinforced polymeric composites find applications in many fields ranging from the construction industry to the automotive industry. The reinforcing efficiency of natural fiber is related to the namre of cellulose and its crystallinity. The main components of natural fibers are cellulose (a-cellulose), hemicelluloses, lignin, pectins, and waxes. For example, biopolymers or synthetic polymers reinforced with natural or biofibers (termed biocomposites) are a viable alternative to glass fiber composites. The term biocomposite is now being applied to a staggering range of materials derived wholly or in part from renewable biomass resources [23]. 

Cellulose is a material which is widespread in nature and may be obtained from various natural sources like wood, cotton and vegetable biomass. It is the most widespread biopolymer on earth. Cellulose polymers aggregate to form microfibrils, which in turn aggregate to form cellulose fibers. By applying effective methods, these fibers can be disintegrated into... 

Biocomposites are formed through the combination of natural cellulose fibers with other resources such as biopolymers, resins, or binders based on renewable raw materials. The goal is to combine the materials in such a way that a S5mergism between the components results in a new material that is much better than the individual components. 

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G. Toriz, P. Gatenholm, B.D. Seiler, and D. Tindall, Cellulose fiber-reinforced cellulose Esters Biocomposites for the future. Nat. Fibers Biopolym. Biocompos. (2005). 

Sanchez-Garcia, M.D., Gimenez, E., Lagaron, J.M., 2008. Morphology and barrier properties of solvent cast composites of thermoplastic biopolymers and purified cellulose fibers. Carbohydrate Polymers 71 (2), 235—244. 

A fiber is a long, thin filament of a material. Fiber technologies are used to produce fibers from different materials that are either obtained from natural sources or produced synthetically. Natural fibers are either ceUulose-based or protein-hased, depending on their source. All cellulosic fibers come from plant sources, while protein-based fibers such as sUk and wool are exclusively from animal sources hoth fiber types are referred to as biopolymers. Synthetic fibers are manufectured from synthetic polymers, such as nylon, rayon, polyaramides, and polyesters. An... 

Due to their renewabdity, abundance, biodegradability, non-food agricultural based economy, and low cost, biopolymers such as cellulose fibers remain the promising materials to mitigate the over dependence on petroleum-based sources as the lat-... 

New Nanocomposite Materials Based on Cellulose Fibers and Other Biopolymers... 

Among the various biopolymer materials, a few materials such as natural cellulosic fibers, starch, agar, chitosan, and poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs), are being used in a nnmber of applications [24,43 9]. In the following section, we briefly describe some of the commercially important biopolymers, as their detailed introduction along with their modification/applications has been given in the upcoming chapters. 

Extensive research has been undertaken in blending different polymers to obtain new products having some of the desired properties of each component. Among protein- and polysaccharide-based green materials, those made from soy protein (Maruthi et al. 2014 Ghidelli et al. 2014 Behera et al. 2012) and starch (Katerinopoulou et al. 2014 Flores-Hemandez et al. 2014) have been extensively studied for and their physiochemical properties been analyzed. The literature review clearly shows that development of biodegradable biopolymer-based materials based on these materials can not only solve the white pollution problem but also ease the overdependence on petroleum resources. This chapter provides a brief overview of the preparation, properties, and application of cellulose fiber-reinforced soy protein-based and starch-based biocomposites. 

The cellulose fibers in paper are the starting material for regenerated fibers such as rayon and cellulose acetate, which, together, form the historical bridge from biopolymers to completely synthetic fibers. Synthetic rubber was created in Germany in 1917, but from the forensic perspective, a much more important advance was the S5mthesis of nylon (specifically, nylon 6,6) in 1935. The discovery of nylon is credited to Dr. Wallace Carothers, who worked at DuPont Chemical Corp. Initially, his work had been with esters and phenols, but he became interest in amides for possible use in the then-infant world of polymer science. What would become known as nylon was developed in 1935 and commercialized in 1939, initially for women s hosiery. World War n jump-started the polymer indu.stry, and many advances quickly followed. The emphasis here will be on fibers, with later sections in the chapter examining other applications of synthetic polymers. 

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer present in nature [8]. This structural material is naturally organized as microfibrils which are linked together to form cellulose fibers. 

Cellulose is a fascinating biopolymer that has always been used in the production of textile fibers. Due to environmental concerns intense research has been conducted in the past decades in order to substitute traditional carbon or glass fibers used in the production of composites with eco-friendly cellulose fibers. The research in cellulose-based biocomposites is now focused on the concept of self-reinforced nanocomposites. In this sense all-cellulose composites have been investigated showing mechanical properties comparable or even better than those of traditional composites. Cellulose and its derivatives may also show liquid crystalline mesophases, which can be used to produce new and biomimetic materials with distinctive mechanical and optical properties. Most likely, enhanced mechanical properties will be obtained in all-cellulose nanocomposites by taking full advantage of the orientational order, when both the matrix and the fibers are in a liquid crystalline state. 

Cellulose is a polysaccharide made up of repeating 1,4-(J-hydroglucose imits coimected to each other by p-ether linkages and is the most abundant natural biopolymer in the world. Cellulosic fibers are broadly defined as fibers from plants or plant-based materials which contain cellulose and is drawn out into fibers for several applications. The long linear chains of cellulose permit the hydroxyl functional groups on each hydro-glucose... 

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