Cellulose Nanocrystal Production

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Year 1: General skills training and lab rotationsYears 2-4: Cellulose nanocrystals are rod-like nanoparticles displaying self-assembly properties that can be harnessed for high end applications. Current production methodologies rely on hydrolysis of natural cellulosic material in concentrated sulfuric acid. However, this process lacks reproducibility between batches and prediction of products property, hindering the development of commercial applications. Better comprehension of hydrolysis parameters would allow production of higher quality products. This project will investigate the potential use of a flow set-up to study the impact of reaction parameters in a consistent way, e.g. to what extent is product quality affected by the reduction of cellulose mass fraction, the effect of pre-mixing of all reagents, and process temperature. While this research highlights the challenges in developing a flow system to study cellulose nanocrystal isolation, it also opens new possibilities to both accelerate the research in batch and improve the classical protocol.