Micro-fibrillated cellulose development and application

加拿大森林业的纸浆和造纸部门在生产可持续和可再生生物材料方面处于领先地位。除了包括印刷和书写纸、卫生用品和包装产品在内的所有各种纸制品外，该部门还引领着新型纤维和聚合物产品的发展。这些产品包括CellulForce的纤维素纳米晶、FiloCell的纤维素微纤丝和Lnoforce的硫酸盐木质素。*纤维素微/纳米纤维是指在纳米/微米尺度上至少具有一维的纤维素材料。这种纤维材料在一系列新材料中得到了广泛的应用，这些材料在混杂复合材料、薄膜、分散体、泡沫、粘合剂等方面提供了高强度、低密度和其他增强性能。*目前，纤维素微米/纳米纤维是由传统的硫酸盐和化学热机械浆(CTMP)纸浆纤维通过机械工艺生产的。这些过程包括高压均质、微流态化、研磨、粉碎和高强度超声波，以及其他向纸浆纤维施加物理力量以将细胞壁分解为纤维成分的方法。所有这些过程都需要巨大的能量。为了减少能源消耗，纤维通常会用碱性酸、酶或离子液体进行化学前处理。目前这些工艺的局限性是，它们要么在资本成本、前处理化学和能源成本方面过于昂贵，要么太难规模化应用于工业应用。*这些纤维素纤维的首批应用之一将是先进的纤维素纤维材料，如先进的包装、绝缘和吸收产品。例如，纤维素纤维提供了创造高强度和低密度包装材料的能力，这些材料具有出色的绝缘性能。这种新颖的可再生绝缘材料可能是使电子杂货彻底改变食品行业的关键技术。*长期目标是将低价值的生物质转化为高价值的MFC，以集成到各种新型材料中，包括高性能纸张、超低密度泡沫塑料成型材料和产品，并最终形成高强度、多标量的混合复合材料，这种复合材料有可能彻底改变从交通运输到民用基础设施的一切(Khan和Kim，2011年)。要做到这一点，我们需要对应用于制造、加工和产品开发阶段的MFC/纤维悬浮物理有一个基本的了解。**

The Pulp and Paper sector of the Canadian forest industry is at the forefront of the production of sustainable and renewable biomaterials. In addition to all of the various paper products that include printing and writing papers, hygiene products and packaging products, the sector is leading the development of novel fibre and polymer products. These products include Cellulose Nanocrystals by CellulForce, Cellulose microfibrils by FiloCell and kraft lignins by LignoForce. ******Cellulose micro/nano fibrils refer to cellulosic materials that have at least one dimension on the nano / micron scale. Such fibrillar materials are finding applications in a broad range of new materials that offer high strength, low density and other enhanced properties in hybrid composites, films, dispersions, foams, adhesives, etc. ******Cellulose micro/nano fibrils are currently manufactured from conventional kraft and chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP) pulp fibres using mechanical processes. These processes include high pressure homogenization; microfluidization, grinding; crushing and high intensity ultrasonication; and other means to impart physical forces on the pulp fibres to break down the cell wall into its fibrillary components. All of these processes take tremendous amounts of energy. To reduce the energy consumption the fibres are typically chemically pre-treated with either alkaline-acid, enzymes or ionic liquids. The current limitations with these processes is that they are either too expensive in terms of capital costs, pre-treatment chemistry and energy costs or are too difficult to scale to industrial applications. ******One of the first applications of these cellulose fibrils will be in advanced cellulose fibre materials, such as advanced packaging, insulation and absorbency products. For example, cellulose fibrils provide the ability to create high strength and low density packaging materials that have exceptional insulation properties. This novel and renewable insulation material may be the key technology that enables e-groceries to revolutionize the food sector. ******The long-term objectives are to develop convert low value biomass into high value MFC for integration into a wide range of novel materials including high performance paper, ultra low-density foam formed materials and products and eventually into high strength, multi-scalar hybrid composites that have the potential to revolutionize everything from transportation to civil infrastructure (Khan and Kim, 2011). To accomplish this we will need a fundamental understanding of MFC/fibre suspension physics applied to the manufacturing, processing and product development phases. **