Pickering Emulsions Electrostatically Stabilized by Cellulose Nanocrystals.

Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) are explored to stabilize oil/water emulsions for their ability to adsorb at the oil/water interface. In this work, the role of electrostatic forces in the CNC ability to stabilize oil/water emulsions is explored using canola oil/water and hexadecane/water as model systems. Canola oil/water and Hexadecane/ water (20/80, v/v) emulsions were stabilized with the addition of CNCs using ultrasonication. Emulsion droplet sizes range from 1 to 4 µm as measured by optical microscopy. It is found that CNC can stabilize oil/water emulsions regardless of their charge density. However, reducing the surface charge density, by adding salts and varying pH, can reduce the amount of CNC's required to form a stable emulsion. Just by adding 3 mM Na+ or 1 mM or less Ca+2 to a CNC suspension, the amount of CNC reduced by 30% to stabilized 2 mL of Canola oil. On the other hand, adding salt increases the emulsion volume. The addition of 100 mM Na+ or the reduction of pH below 2 leads to the aggregation of CNC; emulsions formed under these conditions showed gel-like behavior. This work shows the potential of nanocellulose crystal in stabilizing food and industrial emulsions. This is of interest for applications where biodegradability, biocompatibility, and food grade requirements are needed.

Novel In-situ Precipitation Process to Engineer Low Permeability Porous Composite.

Inspired by the natural precipitation of minerals in soil and rocks, a novel, simple and industrially scalable in-situ precipitation process to produce low permeability porous composites is presented. This process relies on capillary flow in wettable porous composites to absorb and store liquid. In this process, a porous composite first absorbs a salt solution, after which the composite is dipped in a second salt solution. Salts are selected such as they react to form an insoluble precipitate. As big pores absorb more liquid than small pores, the precipitated particles are formed specifically for each pore. In this paper, precipitation of CaCO3 nanoparticles in cellulose nanofibre (CNF) films was demonstrated as an example. Precipitation of 1 wt% of CaCO3 nanoparticles in the CNF film reduced the pore volume by 50%, without changing the density. This reduced the water vapour and oxygen transmission rates by one order of magnitude to 4.7 g/m2.day and 2.7 cc/m2.day, respectively. The barrier properties of in-situ precipitated composites showed superior performance to previously reported CNF films in literature. The concept is general and of very high industrial interest as it can easily be retrofitted to current continuous industrial processes.

Producing nanofibres from carrots with a chemical-free process.

The production of nanofibres (NF) from fresh carrots residue was investigated with a mechanical process without using any pulping or bleaching chemicals. Refining with a PFI mill followed by mechanical fibrillation with a homogenizer was used to produce fine NF. Blanching with hot water was carried out to leach the extractives from carrot fibres prior to refining. The energy required to prepare carrot pulp is one order of magnitude lower than for wood pulp and the fibrillation of nanofibres from carrot residue is four times lower in energy than using wood pulp as feedstock. The average diameter and length of carrot NF are 18 nm and 5.1 µm, respectively. The chemical composition of the manufactured nanofibers, as measured by HPLC, was 53% glucose and 47% xylose. Translucent and strong flexible films were prepared from the carrot NF using a filtration based papermaking process. The strength and water vapor permeability of these carrot NF paper like composites are similar to those derived from wood-fibre of comparable dimensions.

Effect of cationic polyacrylamide on the processing and properties of nanocellulose films.

The use of high molecular weight cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) was investigated to accelerate the drainage of nanocellulose (Microfibrillated Cellulose) suspensions into films. The mechanism was quantified and optimized by measuring the gel point, the lowest solids concentration at which a continuous network is formed. The flocculation of MFC was analysed as a function of the polyelectrolyte dosage, charge density and molecular weight as well as process parameters (drainage time) and material properties. The adsorption isotherms of CPAMs on nanocellulose and their zeta potential curves were also analysed as a function of CPAM charge and dosage. Measured CPAM adsorption capacities for the 50% and 10% charged 13MDa CPAM onto MFC were 5mg/g and 8mg/g, respectively, corresponding to adsorption coverage on cellulose of 0.14mg/m(2) and 0.22mg/m(2). The floc strength and drainability of MFC suspensions were quantified with the gel point as a function of CPAM properties. For all combinations of polyelectrolyte molecular weight and charge density, the gel point of a nanocellulose suspension goes through a minimum with increasing polymer dosage. The minimum gel point was independent of the polyelectrolyte charge density at constant molecular weight. However, it reduced with decreasing CPAM molecular weight, at a constant addition rate. The drainage time of a nanocellulose suspension into a film is reduced by 2/3 by halving the gel point from 0.2 to 0.1kg/m(3); this is due to the more flocculated suspension facilitating drainage between flocs. Nanocellulose films of increased porosity also result from reducing the gel point, signifying that the more open 3D structure of the flocculated cellulose suspension is retained upon drying the 2D film cellulose film structure.