Dry, hydrophobic microfibrillated cellulose powder obtained in a simple procedure using alkyl ketene dimer

Yutao Yan, Hassan Amer, Thomas Rosenau, Cordt Zollfrank, Jörg Dörrstein, Cornelia Jobst, Tanja Zimmermann, Jozef Keckes, Stefan Veigel, Wolfgang Gindl-Altmutter, Jianzhang Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

In order to produce dry and hydrophobic microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in a simple procedure, its modification with alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) was performed. For this purpose, MFC was solvent-exchanged to ethyl acetate and mixed with AKD dissolved in the same solvent. Curing at 130 °C for 20 h under the catalysis of 1-methylimidazole yielded a dry powder. Scanning electron microscopy of the powder indicated loss in nanofibrillar structure due to aggregation, but discrete microfibrillar structures were still present. Water contact angle measurements of films produced from modified and unmodified MFC showed high hydrophobicity after AKD treatment, which persisted even after extraction with THF for 8 h. The hydrophobized MFC was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray analysis. In summary, strong indications for the presence of AKD on the surface of MFC before and after extraction with solvent were found, but only a very small amount of covalent β-ketoester linkages between the modification agent and cellulose was revealed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1189-1197
Number of pages9
JournalCellulose
Volume23
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Apr 2016

Keywords

  • Alkyl ketene dimer
  • Dry powder
  • Hydrophobicity
  • Microfibrillated cellulose
  • Surface modification

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