Preparation of Nanofibrillated Cellulose in Powder Form

摘要

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are generally produced in the form of aqueous dispersion at low concentrations. and it would lead to issues including the high cost of transportation and the high risk of decomposition by bacterial contamination. Therefore, manufacturing dried CNFs is essential for expanding the market of CNFs.In the process of drying, CNFs strongly aggregate and the formed hydrogen bonding inhibits re-dispersion of CNFs in water. Consequently, reduced are resulting characteristics of CNFs, such as high transparency and high viscosity. The prevention of the aggregation in a drying process is the key to the preparation of dried CNFs. In this paper, we report a preparation of dried CNFs that can be easily re-dispersed in water. The key to the preparation of dried CNFs was the selection of chemically modified CNFs and water-soluble polymers for CNF suspensions. The dried CNFs were easily dispersed in water and their transparency and viscosities were not deteriorated even through the drying process. These CNF materials will be provided in powder form with good handling.