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

每年有数百万吨淀粉被用作纸张施胶和干强剂，尽管淀粉通常是日常用餐的高需求量。这一点值得注意，因为由于人口增长，全球粮食需求正在增加。同样，造纸业使用的数百万吨石油基纸干强剂也引起了环境问题，促使人们努力开发替代产品。与淀粉、变性淀粉或石油增强剂相比，大豆面粉是一种廉价的复合多糖，可能是一种合适的替代品。但与使用大豆面粉相关的主要问题是，它会造成细菌消化问题，会产生难闻的气味和污垢，这是造纸业需要考虑的关键问题。该项目的目标是通过一种环境可持续的化学改性来阻止大豆粉的细菌分解，从而有利于纸张施胶/增强在纸和纸包装行业中的应用。本工作的主要研究工作包括：1)通过特定的化学途径修饰合成季铵盐带正电荷的功能化大豆粉，其中改性大豆粉最终将显示出克服细菌分解的抗菌活性；2)研究改性大豆粉和未改性大豆粉的生物分解，以确定其抗菌性能；以及3)表征改性大豆粉和改性大豆粉处理后的施胶纸的物理性质和抗菌活性。我们的目标是将这些材料用作纸和纸包装行业中淀粉基施胶/增强剂的替代品。拟议的改性豆粉有可能满足无毒纸制品的低成本、高性能、可生物降解和食品级要求。此外，该项目有可能导致取代造纸业中使用的不可生物降解和污染的石油基纸干强剂，如聚丙烯酰胺，从而解决环境和健康问题。研究生和本科生都将是项目团队的成员。此外，K-12推广计划是整个项目可交付成果的一部分。项目方法是基于开发一种创新的反应机制，在大豆面粉中引入季铵盐阳离子电荷，使功能化的大豆面粉显示杀菌活性并克服生物诱导的分解。初步结果支持这一假设，即在大豆面粉中引入这种季阳离子电荷在阻止生物消化和抑制细菌、霉菌和真菌对大豆面粉的污染方面起着关键作用。这一假设将通过测试反应条件来进一步检验，以追求提高目标绩效。通过红外光谱、核磁共振、XPS、扫描电子显微镜、热重分析、差示扫描量热仪和X射线衍射仪对改性后的大豆粉进行分析，确定改性后的大豆粉的热稳定性。交联型改性大豆粉中的阳离子电荷将由电荷分析仪测定，抗菌活性将通过标准的AATCC 100和FTTS-FA-002测试方法进行评估。采用ASTM试验方法对大豆粉和季离子带电功能化大豆粉的生物消化性能进行评价。初步的实验室结果表明，季阳离子带电功能化大豆粉显著提高了其自身和施胶纸的抗菌性能，并显著提高了纸张的抗张强度。这项工作不仅将探索化学转化，还将探索一系列反应物和交联剂，并优化反应条件，以制造具有功能活性和应用动机的抗菌豆粉，以潜在地取代日常食品淀粉。同样，初步结果表明，功能化大豆粉可以作为纸张的表面施胶剂，改变纸张的吸收性能，提高施胶纸的强度，有望取代淀粉型施胶剂。该项目将进一步证实这些初步结果。将评估改性大豆粉处理的施胶纸的吸水性、强度、刚性、印刷适性和其他性能，并将其与淀粉处理的施胶纸的性能进行比较。对改性大豆粉处理后的施胶纸的抗菌性能进行评价，以确定其对大豆粉细菌分解的抑制作用。此外，改良的大豆面粉将与纸浆混合，以制造添加剂处理的纸张，以表征物理性能，特别是与商用石油基强度添加剂(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智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.