A Novel Soybean Flour-based Sizing and Strength Additive for Replacing the Daily Food Starch in the Papermaking Process

一种新型大豆粉基施胶剂和强度添加剂，用于替代造纸过程中的日用食品淀粉

• 批准号: 2243120
• 负责人: Abdus Salam
• 金额: $ 21.19万
• 依托单位: Western Michigan University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-15 至 2026-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243120&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Novel; Soybean; Flour; based; Sizing

Millions of tons of starches are used as a paper sizing and dry strength additive every year despite the fact that starch is typically in high demand for daily meals. This is important to note because global food demand is increasing due to population growth. Similarly, millions of tons of petroleum-based paper dry strength agents used in the paper making industry have raised environmental concerns, motivating efforts toward developing alternatives. Soybean flour is a cheap complex polysaccharide compared to starch, modified starches, or petroleum-based strength agents, and may be a suitable substitute. But the main problem associated with using soybean flour is that it poses a bacterial digestion problem that can produce bad odors and fouling, vital issues to consider for use in paper industries. The goal of this project is to stop the bacterial decomposition of soybean flour by an environmentally sustainable chemical modification in order to benefit paper sizing/strength applications in the paper and paper packaging industries. The key research activities of this work include: 1) synthesis of quaternary positively charged functionalized soybean flour by a specific chemical pathway modification in which modified soybean flour will ultimately demonstrate the antimicrobial activity to overcome bacterial decomposition, 2) investigation of the biological decomposition of modified soybean flour and unmodified soybean flour to determine antimicrobial performance, and 3) characterization of the physical properties and antimicrobial activities of the modified soybean flour and modified soybean flour-treated sized paper. The goal is for these materials to be used as an alternative to starch-based sizing/strength agents in the paper and paper packaging industries. The proposed modified soybean flour has the potential to address low-cost, high-performance, biodegradable, and food-grade requirements for non-toxic paper products. Additionally, the project holds the potential to lead to the replacement of non-biodegradable and polluting petroleum-based paper dry-strength agents such as polyacrylamide used in the paper industries and thus address environmental and health concerns. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be members of the project team. In addition, K-12 outreach is planned as part of the total project deliverables.The project approach is based on exploiting an innovative reaction mechanism for introducing a quaternary cationic charge into soybean flour such that the functionalized soybean flour will exhibit bactericidal activity and overcome biologically-induced decomposition. Preliminary results support the hypothesis that the introduction of this quaternary cationic charge in soybean flour plays a key role in stopping biological digestion and inhibiting soybean flour contamination by bacteria, mold, and fungi. This hypothesis will be further examined by testing reaction conditions in pursuit of enhancing targeted performance. Modified soybean flour will be analyzed by FTIR, NMR, XPS, SEM, TGA, DSC, and XRD to confirm modification and thermal stability. Cationic charges in cross-linked modified soybean flour will be determined by a charge analyzer and antimicrobial activity will be evaluated by standard AATCC 100 and FTTS- FA-002 test methods. The biological digestion of soybean flour and quaternary cationic charged-functionalized soybean flour will be evaluated by ASTM test methods. Preliminary lab results have shown that the quaternary cationic charged-functionalized soybean flour significantly enhances the antimicrobial properties of itself and with a sized paper sheet as well as significantly contributing to the tensile strength of paper. The work will probe not only the chemical transformations but also explore a range of reactants and crosslinking agents, and optimize reaction conditions to make functionally competent and application-motivated antimicrobial soybean flours to potentially replace daily food starch. Likewise, preliminary results indicate that the functionalized soybean flour can be used as a surface sizing agent in paper to change absorption properties and increase the strength of sized paper, potentially replacing starch-based sizing agents. The project will further confirm these preliminary results. The absorption, strength, stiffness, printability, and other properties of modified soybean flour-treated sized paper will be evaluated and compared with starch-treated sized paper properties. The antimicrobial properties of modified soybean flour-treated sized paper will be evaluated to confirm the inhibition of bacterial decomposition of soybean flour. Additionally, modified soybean flour will be blended with pulp slurry to fabricate additive-treated paper sheets to characterize physical properties, especially strength compared to commercial petroleum-based strength additive (polyacrylamide)-treated papers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

尽管淀粉在日常膳食中的需求量通常很高，但每年仍有数百万吨淀粉被用作纸张施胶和干强度添加剂。这一点很重要，因为全球粮食需求由于人口增长而增加。同样，造纸工业中使用的数百万吨石油基纸张干强剂引起了环境问题，促使人们努力开发替代品。与淀粉、改性淀粉或石油基增强剂相比，大豆粉是一种廉价的复合多糖，并且可能是合适的替代品。但是，与使用大豆粉相关的主要问题是，它会造成细菌消化问题，可能产生难闻的气味和污垢，这是造纸工业需要考虑的重要问题。该项目的目标是通过环境可持续的化学改性来阻止大豆粉的细菌分解，以有利于纸张和纸包装行业中的纸张施胶/强度应用。这项工作的主要研究活动包括：1）通过特定的化学途径改性合成带正电荷的季铵官能化大豆粉，其中改性大豆粉将最终证明克服细菌分解的抗微生物活性，2）研究改性大豆粉和未改性大豆粉的生物分解以确定抗微生物性能，和3）表征改性大豆粉和改性大豆粉处理的施胶纸的物理性质和抗菌活性。目标是将这些材料用作造纸和纸包装行业中淀粉基施胶剂/增强剂的替代品。拟议的改性大豆粉有可能解决低成本，高性能，可生物降解和食品级无毒纸制品的要求。此外，该项目有可能导致替代不可生物降解和污染的石油基纸张干强剂，如造纸工业中使用的聚丙烯酰胺，从而解决环境和健康问题。研究生和本科生都将成为项目团队的成员。此外，K-12推广计划是整个项目可交付成果的一部分。该项目方法基于开发一种创新的反应机制，将季铵阳离子电荷引入大豆粉，使功能化大豆粉表现出杀菌活性并克服生物诱导的分解。初步结果支持这一假设，即在大豆粉中引入这种季铵阳离子电荷在阻止生物消化和抑制细菌，霉菌和真菌对大豆粉的污染中起着关键作用。这一假设将进一步检查测试反应条件，以追求提高目标性能。通过FTIR、NMR、XPS、SEM、TGA、DSC、XRD等分析手段对改性大豆粉进行表征，以确定改性大豆粉的改性程度和热稳定性。通过电荷分析仪测定交联改性大豆粉中的阳离子电荷，并通过标准AATCC 100和FTTS-FA-002测试方法评价抗微生物活性。通过ASTM测试方法评估大豆粉和季铵阳离子电荷官能化大豆粉的生物消化。初步的实验室结果表明，季铵阳离子带电官能化大豆粉显著增强了其自身和施胶纸张的抗微生物性能，并显著有助于纸张的拉伸强度。这项工作不仅将探索化学转化，而且还将探索一系列反应物和交联剂，并优化反应条件，使功能性和应用性的抗菌大豆粉有可能取代日常食品淀粉。同样，初步结果表明，功能化大豆粉可以用作纸张中的表面施胶剂，以改变吸收性能并增加施胶纸的强度，可能取代淀粉基施胶剂。该项目将进一步证实这些初步结果。对改性豆粉施胶纸的吸水性、强度、挺度、适印性等性能进行了评价，并与淀粉施胶纸性能进行了比较。将评价改性大豆粉处理过的施胶纸的抗微生物性能，以确认对大豆粉细菌分解的抑制。此外，将改性大豆粉与纸浆混合，制成经添加剂处理的纸张，以表征物理性能，特别是与商业石油基强度添加剂（聚丙烯酰胺）处理的纸张相比的强度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。