Cellulose commercial

The hydrolysate is filtered on a 60 x 60 pressfilter comprising 6 compartments and equipped with fabrics of the polyester known under the designation TERGAL which have been previously coated with a suspension of a cellulose commercialized under the trademark SOLKA FLOX BW20. The duration of filtration is of 1.5 h. 580 L of the filtrate are recovered and subjected to a concentration under reduced pressure in an evaporator the volume of which is of 750 L, at a distillation temperature ranging from 45°-50°C under a reduced pressure of 10-15 Torn... 

Figure 1 shows the repeating glucose units of cellulose with the carbons labeled, including those with the reactive 2, 3, and 6 hydroxyls. Ihe most important reactions of cotton cellulose commercially are esterification and etherification, with the products of etherification ranking first. It is generally agreed today among textile scientists that durable press cellulosic textiles ow their smooth-drying and resilient properties to the reactivity of formaldehyde and its amide derivatives with cellulose to produce crosslinks between adjacent cellulose chains (Figure 2). Hovever, the theory that crosslinking was responsible for increased resiliency developed only after the treatmaits were in wide use.

Commercial Derivatization of Cellulose. Cellulose, the world s most abundant polymer, is derivatized for use in a variety of markets. 

Commercial derivatization of cellulose begins with the addition of sodium hydroxide to form alkaH cellulose (AC) (eq. 1, R = carbohydrate). 

The derivatives are hydroxyethyl and hydroxypropyl cellulose. AH four derivatives find numerous appHcations and there are other reactants that can be added to ceUulose, including the mixed addition of reactants lea ding to adducts of commercial significance. In the commercial production of mixed ethers there are economic factors to consider that include the efficiency of adduct additions (ca 40%), waste product disposal, and the method of product recovery and drying on a commercial scale. The products produced by equation 2 require heat and produce NaCl, a corrosive by-product, with each mole of adduct added. These products are produced by a paste process and require corrosion-resistant production units. The oxirane additions (eq. 3) are exothermic, and with the explosive nature of the oxiranes, require a dispersion diluent in their synthesis (see Cellulose ethers). 

Currently, almost all acetic acid produced commercially comes from acetaldehyde oxidation, methanol or methyl acetate carbonylation, or light hydrocarbon Hquid-phase oxidation. Comparatively small amounts are generated by butane Hquid-phase oxidation, direct ethanol oxidation, and synthesis gas. Large amounts of acetic acid are recycled industrially in the production of cellulose acetate, poly(vinyl alcohol), and aspirin and in a broad array of other... 

The predominant cellulose ester fiber is cellulose acetate, a partially acetylated cellulose, also called acetate or secondary acetate. It is widely used in textiles because of its attractive economics, bright color, styling versatiUty, and other favorable aesthetic properties. However, its largest commercial appHcation is as the fibrous material in cigarette filters, where its smoke removal properties and contribution to taste make it the standard for the cigarette industry. Cellulose triacetate fiber, also known as primary cellulose acetate, is an almost completely acetylated cellulose. Although it has fiber properties that are different, and in many ways better than cellulose acetate, it is of lower commercial significance primarily because of environmental considerations in fiber preparation. 

Cellulose triacetate is obtained by the esterification of cellulose (qv) with acetic anhydride (see Cellulose esters). Commercial triacetate is not quite the precise chemical entity depicted as (1) because acetylation does not quite reach the maximum 3.0 acetyl groups per glucose unit. Secondary cellulose acetate is obtained by hydrolysis of the triacetate to an average degree of substitution (DS) of 2.4 acetyl groups per glucose unit. There is no satisfactory commercial means to acetylate direcdy to the 2.4 acetyl level and obtain a secondary acetate that has the desired solubiUty needed for fiber preparation. 

Secondary Acetate Processes. There is no commercial process to directiy produce secondary cellulose acetate sufficientiy soluble in acetone to produce fiber. Hence, the cellulose is completely acetylated to the triacetate during the dissolution step and then hydrolyzed to the required acetyl value. 

Other patents (81,82) coveted the preparation of cellulose solutions using NMMO and speculated about their use as dialysis membranes, food casings (sausage skins), fibers, films, paper coatings, and nonwoven binders. NMMO emerged as the best of the amine oxides, and its commercial potential was demonstrated by American Enka (83,84). Others (85) have studied the cellulose-NMMO system in depth one paper indicates that further strength increases can be obtained by adding ammonium chloride or calcium chloride to the dope (86). 

Neste patented an industrial route to a cellulose carbamate pulp (90) which was stable enough to be shipped into rayon plants for dissolution as if it were xanthate. The carbamate solution could be spun into sulfuric acid or sodium carbonate solutions, to give fibers which when completely regenerated had similar properties to viscose rayon. When incompletely regenerated they were sufficientiy self-bonding for use in papermaking. The process was said to be cheaper than the viscose route and to have a lower environmental impact (91). It has not been commercialized, so no confirmation of its potential is yet available. 

The Courtaulds Tencel Process. The increasing costs of reducing the environmental impact of the viscose process coupled with the increasing likelihood that the newer cellulose solvents would be capable of yielding a commercially viable fiber process led Courtaulds Research to embark on a systematic search for a new fiber process in the late 1970s. 

Fibers for commercial and domestic use are broadly classified as natural or synthetic. The natural fibers are vegetable, animal, or mineral ia origin. Vegetable fibers, as the name implies, are derived from plants. The principal chemical component ia plants is cellulose, and therefore they are also referred to as ceUulosic fibers. The fibers are usually bound by a natural phenoHc polymer, lignin, which also is frequentiy present ia the cell wall of the fiber thus vegetable fibers are also often referred to as lignocellulosic fibers, except for cotton which does not contain lignin. 

Phosphoric Acid-Based Systems for Cellulosics. Semidurable flame-retardant treatments for cotton (qv) or wood (qv) can be attained by phosphorylation of cellulose, preferably in the presence of a nitrogenous compound. Commercial leach-resistant flame-retardant treatments for wood have been developed based on a reaction product of phosphoric acid with urea—formaldehyde and dicyandiamide resins (59,60). 

Aryl Phosphates. Aryl phosphates were introduced into commercial use early in the twentieth century for flammable plastics such as cellulose nitrate and later for cellulose acetate. CeUulosics are a significant area of use but are exceeded now by plastici2ed vinyls (93—95). Principal appHcations are in wire and cable insulation, coimectors, automotive interiors, vinyl moisture barriers, plastic greenhouses (Japan), furniture upholstery, conveyer belts (especially in mining), and vinyl foams. 

Dyes. In contrast to benzotrifluorides and fluoropyrknidines, limited commercialization has developed for dyes containing a fluoroaromatic group. FluorophenyUiydrazines have been converted to (fluorophenyl)pyrazolones, which are disperse dyes for cellulose acetate and nylon (192). 

Most of the commercial tree plantations that produce wood for captive use as a raw material in manufacturing operations use a portion as fuel. Examples of short-rotation plantations are Hsted in Table 38 (127). Paper companies in the southeastern United States are reported to have short-rotation plantings also, eg, Weyerhaeuser, James River Corp., Buckeye Cellulose, and Lykes Brothers, but the intensity of maintenance is not known (127). 

Hemicellulose [9034-32-6] is the least utilized component of the biomass triad comprising cellulose (qv), lignin (qv), and hemiceUulose. The term was origiaated by Schulze (1) and is used here to distinguish the nonceUulosic polysaccharides of plant cell walls from those that are not part of the wall stmcture. Confusion arises because other hemicellulose definitions based on solvent extraction are often used in the Hterature (2—4). The term polyose is used in Europe to describe these nonceUulosic polysaccharides from wood, whereas hemicellulose is used to describe the alkaline extracts from commercial pulps (4). The quantity of hemicellulose in different sources varies considerably as shown in Table 1. 

Membrane modules have found extensive commercial appHcation in areas where medium purity hydrogen is required, as in ammonia purge streams (191). The first polymer membrane system was developed by Du Pont in the early 1970s. The membranes are typically made of aromatic polyaramide, polyimide, polysulfone, and cellulose acetate supported as spiral-wound hoUow-ftber modules (see Hollow-FIBERMEMBRANEs). 

Other Polymers. Besides polycarbonates, poly(methyl methacrylate)s, cycfic polyolefins, and uv-curable cross-linked polymers, a host of other polymers have been examined for their suitabiUty as substrate materials for optical data storage, preferably compact disks, in the last years. These polymers have not gained commercial importance polystyrene (PS), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), cellulose acetobutyrate (CAB), bis(diallylpolycarbonate) (BDPC), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), styrene—acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAC), and for substrates with high resistance to heat softening, polysulfones (PSU) and polyimides (PI). 

Cellulose acetate Loeb-Sourirajan reverse osmosis membranes were introduced commercially in the 1960s. Since then, many other polymers have been made into asymmetric membranes in attempts to improve membrane properties. In the reverse osmosis area, these attempts have had limited success, the only significant example being Du Font s polyamide membrane. For gas separation and ultrafUtration, a number of membranes with useful properties have been made. However, the early work on asymmetric membranes has spawned numerous other techniques in which a microporous membrane is used as a support to carry another thin, dense separating layer. 

Reverse Osmosis. This was the first membrane-based separation process to be commercialized on a significant scale. The breakthrough discovery that made reverse osmosis (qv) possible was the development of the Loeb-Sourirajan asymmetric cellulose acetate membrane. This membrane made desalination by reverse osmosis practical within a few years commercial plants were installed. The total worldwide market for reverse osmosis membrane modules is about 200 million /yr, spHt approximately between 25% hoUow-ftber and 75% spiral-wound modules. The general trend of the industry is toward spiral-wound modules for this appHcation, and the market share of the hoUow-ftber products is gradually falling (72). 

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