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Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Esterified Lignin in Various Polymer Blends

Authors :
Alexander Orebom
Davide Di Francesco
Patrick Shakari
Joseph S. M. Samec
Clara Pierrou
Source :
Molecules, Vol 26, Iss 11, p 3219 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

Lignin is an abundant polymeric renewable material and thus a promising candidate for incorporation in various commercial thermoplastic polymers. One challenge is to increase the dispersibility of amphiphilic lignin in lipophilic thermoplastic polymers We altered Kraft lignin using widely available and renewable fatty acids, such as oleic acid, yielding more than 8 kg of lignin ester as a light brown powder. SEC showed a molecular weight of 5.8 kDa with a PDI = 3.80, while the Tg of the lignin ester was concluded to 70 °C. Furthermore, the lignin ester was incorporated (20%) into PLA, HDPE, and PP to establish the thermal and mechanical behavior of the blends. DSC and rheological measurements suggest that the lignin ester blends consist of a phase-separated system. The results demonstrate how esterification of lignin allows dispersion in all the evaluated thermoplastic polymers maintaining, to a large extent, the tensile properties of the original material. The impact strength of HDPE and PLA blends show substantial loss upon the addition of the lignin ester. Reconverting the acetic acid side stream into acetic anhydride and reusing the catalyst, the presented methodology can be scaled up to produce a lignin-based substitute to fossil materials.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14203049
Volume :
26
Issue :
11
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Molecules
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.b46f19a1fed940bd9ea8e28becafe15e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26113219