Search

Bamboo chips were efficiently fractionated using an integrated process of autohydrolysis and formic acid to induce rapid delignification. Autohydrolysis pretreatment facilitated oligosaccharide production, while the subsequent rapid-delignification using formic acid at a low liquid/solid ratio with a relatively short reaction time allowed obtaining cellulose fibers and lignin. The major inter-unit linkages of side-chain in lignin were cleaved during the combined fractionation process. The lignin fraction exhibited higher purity, more phenolic OH groups, less condensed phenolic OH groups, and higher syringyl/guaiacyl ratio (S/G) as compared to MWL and formic acid lignin from the direct formic acid delignification. These results indicate that the combined fractionation process presents a promising approach to the commercial utilization in the biorefinery industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, researchers have put much attention on the improvements and upgrades of novel wet strength agent in the papermaking fields, especially in the usage of household paper. Herein, PEI M -KH560 by polyethyleneimine (PEI) and γ-glycidyl ether propyl trimethoxysilane (KH560) was synthesized with five molecular weights (Mw) of PEI at 600, 1800, 10,000, 70,000 and 750,000. Results showed that the molecular weight greatly influenced the physicochemical properties of PEI-KH560, such as the size and thermal stability. The intrinsic cationic charge of PEI-KH560 provided the bonding sites with the paper fibers, forming strengthened fiber-fiber joints. It was shown that the dry, wet strength and hydrophobicity of cellulosic paper sheets were obviously improved. When the m (PEI):m(KH560) is 1:2, the strength of papers after sizing by Mw of PEI at 600 and 1800 is the most obvious, with the dry strength increased by 227.9 % and 187.5 %, and the wet strength increased by 183.8 % and 207.8 %, respectively. The maximum hydrophobicity was found at the PEI 1800 -KH560 with the contact angle value of 130.6°. The resultant environmental-friendly agent (PEI-KH560) obtained in this work provides valuable significance for the preparation of household and food packaging paper., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the base film (CSL) was prepared by blending tunicate cellulose nanocrystals (TCNCs) extracted from tunicate shells, with sodium alginate (SA) and alkali lignin (AL). Then, the mulching film (CSL-WK) was prepared using water-borne polyurethane (WPU) as binder to install low-energy Kaolin on the surface of CSL film. The influences of composition with different concentrations on mechanical properties were studied. The tensile strength and elongation at break of CSL-WK film could reach 86.58 MPa and 50.49 %, respectively. The mulching films were characterized by degradability test, SEM, FTIR, and TGA. TCNCs had good compatibility with SA and AL, and a rough structure was formed on the surface of the film to improve the hydrophobicity. The barrier properties, including ultraviolet resistance, water contact angle, water vapor permeability, water retention, and flame retardancy, were tested. The results showed that CSL-WK films could block 97 % of ultraviolet light, reduce about 25 % of soil water loss, and self-extinguish within 7 s of open flame ignition. Note that the secondary spraying method significantly improved the barrier property of films. This study lays a foundation for the preparation of ecologically friendly, biodegradable, and high barrier mulching film, and expands the application of marine resources., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

A practical method for the preparation of lignin derivatives-light-colored bio-based particles (LC-BP) via the modification of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) is presented in this work. In the mixed EtOH/H 2 O system, the change of solvent polarity induced the self-assembly of the lignosulfonate (LS) with the hydrophobic chromophores encapsulated inside the particles. The color of LS was reduced by the polymerization between the isocyanate groups (-N=C=O) of HDI and hydroxy groups of LS. Compared with the typical lignin-based adsorbent preparation process in the past, this is a simple, direct, and efficient preparation method and the synthetic LC-BP has good chemical stability and resistance to heat, acid and alkali. This effectively solves the problem that LS has high water solubility and is difficult to use directly for wastewater treatment. To investigate the properties, the synthetic LC-BP was characterized by SEM, specific surface area, L*a*b* (CIELAB) color space, FT-IR, XPS, and TGA. The results showed that the LC-BP exhibited obvious advantages in color reduction with a low CIE-L* value. The LC-BP exhibits a scale-like intercalation structure, which makes it a promising candidate for adsorbing tetracycline (TC) from wastewater. The conditions of pH, adsorbent dosages, adsorption time, and initial TC concentration were investigated, and the adsorption performance of LC-BP for TC was significantly better than that of conventional polyurethane particles (PP). The adsorption fitted the Langmuir model and there were hydrogen bonding, π-π conjugated binding, and electrostatic attraction during the absorption process. The adsorption capacity was up to 53.1 mg/g, and the removal rate was 67 %. The utilization of LC-BP, a low-cost, effective, and renewable resource derived from natural biomass, holds immense practical and economic potential in wastewater treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) hybrid materials with numerous optical states have great potential as anti-counterfeiting labels and information encryption materials. However, it is challenging to construct multicolor emitting materials with tunable behaviors, which can dramatically enhance anti-counterfeiting abilities. Here, free-standing composite films with vivid multi-structural colors and dual-emitting fluorescence are successfully fabricated through a host-guest coassembly strategy. The lanthanide complex and an aggregation-induced emission molecule (tetraphenylethylene derivative, TPEC) are selected as luminescent guests, which are integrated into the chiral nematic structure of CNCs. The obtained photonic films display broadband reflection across the visible spectrum, which may be attributed to the chiral nematic domains with variations in the helical pitches and helical axis orientations. Under 254 nm excitation, the film exhibits bright red emission, while blue-green emission switching occurs under 365 nm excitation. The broad reflection band of the film covers both the green and red fluorescent emission centers, and right circularly polarized luminescence emission with different dissymmetry factors is produced due to the selective reflection of the left chiral nematic structure. A large glum value up to -0.21 at 600 nm was realized. Additionally, CNC-based materials with tailored shapes are further used in anti-counterfeit tags and decorative applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)