Cellulose comminution

Interestingly, the ball milling studies of microcrystalline cellulose by Nakai (Table 4) have shown that the Wqj values obtained from water sorption studies increase to a much greater extent than the increase in surface area because of comminution of the sample. In fact, as discussed earlier, moisture sorption was... 

Inasmuch as this hydrolysis involves a solid (pentosan), it is obvious that the degree of comminution of this solid plays a role and may change ko to some extent. It is equally probable that the nature of the raw material will have some effect on ko in that pentosan firmly embedded in cellulose or resin will react more slowly than pentosan readily accessible. However, all of these effects are only of minor significance as at equal hydrogen ion concentration the hydrolysis of pentosan to pentose is very much faster than the subsequent dehydration of pentose to furfural. Consequently, in any appraisals of furfural reactors the period of time required for the pentosan hydrolysis to pentose is usually disregarded. 

The result was the discovery that a high density powder, dubbed ECO-FUEL II, could be produced by treating the partially comminuted MSW with small amounts (around 0.5%) of readily available commodity chemicals which at temperatures under 150°C would embrittle the cellulosic materials in MSW and, with low levels of grinding energy, produce a powdered fuel of high density. The process is protected by patents. 

Thus, to obtain the ANP with the maximum yield, the concentration of sulfuric acid used for treatment of the starting cellulose sample should be in the range of 65—66 wt%. The probable mechanism of the generation of ANP consists of depolymerization, sulfonation, and dissolving of cellulose in a sufficiently high sulfuric acid concentration (65—66 wt%), followed by the regeneration of the amorphous floes and their comminution in the water medium. 

The isolation of cellulose and other soluble and insoluble sugars, including isolation by hydrolysis or saccharification of the comminution product... 

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