Combination of Steam Explosion and TEMPO-mediated Oxidation as Pretreatments to Produce Nanofibril of Cellulose from Posidonia oceanica Bleached Fibres

Abstract

Posidonia oceanica is the dominant sea grass in the Mediterranean Sea. This biomass has great potential for use as a novel lignocellulosic material on an industrial scale. In this work, an innovative approach was applied to produce cellulose nanofibril (CNF) from Posidonia. First, fibres were isolated by a delignification-bleaching process, followed by refining and TEMPO-mediated oxidation to facilitate their further microfibrillation. Cellulose nanofibril suspensions were then produced by steam explosion or grinding (Masuko supermasscolloider). Next, CNF gel-like suspensions were characterized by several techniques such as morphological analysis (Morfi, optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy) and turbidity measurements. Nanopapers, prepared by filtration, were used to perform tensile tests. Finally, the efficiency of the combination of TEMPO-mediated oxidation and steam explosion was discussed. Obtained results show that the steam explosion process allows the production of CNF with a width between 4 and 10 nm and properties close to those obtained by the grinding process.