Lignocellulose fiber modifications lignin

Lignocellulosic research today is poised on the threshold of a new era of research breakthroughs. It has enabled the use of a wide variety of lignocellulosic materials, low-quality wood species and sawdust, and low-value lignin products. Lignocellulosic and cellulosic research efforts are under way to produce novel products for construction, transportation, plastics, fiber, packaging, and medical applications. Some of the major activities in chemical modifications of wood, cellulose, and lignins are the main features of this book. 

Chemical modification reactions continue to play a dominant role in improving the overall utilization of lignocellulosic materials [1,2]. The nature of modification may vary from mild pretreatment of wood with alkali or sulfite as used in the production of mechanical pulp fibers [3] to a variety of etherification, esterification, or copolymerization processes applied in the preparation of wood- [4], cellulose- [5] or lignin- [6] based materials. Since the modification of wood polymers is generally conducted in a heterogeneous system, the apparent reactivity would be influenced by both the chemical and the physical nature of the substrate as well as of the reactant molecules involved. 

According to Luz et al. [21], acid hydrolysis can be used for the treatment of fibers. The main effect of hydrolysis on lignocellulosic materials is breakage of the linkages between lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. This results in dissolution of hemicellulose, structural modification of lignin and a reduction in the particle size of the material. 

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