Differences in Swelling of Chemical Pulp Fibers and Cotton Fibers - Effect of the Supramolecular Structure
Journal article, 2019

The swelling and dissolution of cellulose are key parameters in the production of regenerated cellulose fibers. Since cotton is almost pure cellulose, it has been proposed that the recycling of cotton textiles may be accomplished through incorporating the cotton textiles into the production of regenerated cellulosic fibers. In this study, the supramolecular structure before and after pretreatment was characterized using solid-state carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (C-13 NMR), and the findings related to the swelling of dissolving pulp and cotton were quantified with a fiber analyzer. The cotton and dissolving pulp samples were subjected to three different pretreatments: mild acid hydrolysis, acid hydrolysis in ethanol, and a hydrothermal treatment. The results showed that cotton was harder to swell than the dissolving pulp. This indicated that either waste cotton requires another type of activating pretreatment than those included in this study or very good solvents if it is to be included in the production of regenerated fibers.

Cotton recycling

Fiber swelling

Hydrothermal treatment

Acid hydrolysis

CP/MAS C-13 NMR

Author

Anna Palme

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Fredrik Aldaeus

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Tomas Larsson

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Merima Hasani

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Hans Theliander

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Harald Brelid

Södra Innovation

BioResources

1930-2126 (ISSN) 19302126 (eISSN)

Vol. 14 3 5698-5715

Subject Categories

Paper, Pulp and Fiber Technology

Polymer Technologies

Other Industrial Biotechnology

DOI

10.15376/biores.14.3.5698-5715

More information

Latest update

1/4/2023 8