Cellulose Nanocrystal Production

一年级：一般技能培训和实验室轮换2-4年级：纤维素纳米晶是棒状纳米颗粒，显示出可用于高端应用的自组装特性。目前的生产方法依赖于天然纤维素材料在浓硫酸中的水解。然而，该工艺缺乏批次间的重复性和对产品性质的预测，阻碍了商业应用的发展。更好地理解水解参数将有助于生产更高质量的产品。该项目将调查流动装置的潜在用途，以一致的方式研究反应参数的影响，例如，纤维素质量分数的减少对产品质量的影响程度，所有试剂的预混合效果，以及工艺温度。虽然这项研究突出了开发流动系统来研究纤维素纳米晶分离的挑战，但它也为加快批量研究和改进经典方案开辟了新的可能性。

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.