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This study evaluated the bleachability of wood fibers from acid hydrotropic fractionation (AHF) of birch using ptoluenesulfonic acid (p-TsOH) at low temperatures below 90 °C. The wood fibers had varying amounts of lignin after AHF under different conditions using both batch and flow-through configurations. The extent of lignin reprecipitation in batch mode was evaluated by extended washing with p-TsOH. 2D 13C−1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy indicated that residual lignin on fibers from batch reaction was significantly more condensed than that from flow-through under...

Ghana is a nation rich in natural resources and tropical diversity, with forests covering approximately one-fifth of the country’s total land area. To ensure that future generations of Ghanaians can enjoy the benefits of such a rich forest resource, Ghana has been enacting and enforcing laws intended to ensure that wood and wood-derived products are legally sourced. Compliance with and enforcement of these laws depend in part on the availability of technical or forensic expertise to validate claims of legality through the correct identification of timber during its extraction, processing,...

Investigating plant structure is fundamental in botanical science and provides crucial knowledge for the theories of plant evolution, ecophysiology and for the biotechnological practices. Modern plant anatomy often targets the formation, localization and characterization of cellulosic, lignifed or suberized cell walls. While classical methods developed in the 1960s are still popular, recent innovations in tissue preparation, fuorescence staining and microscopy equipment offer advantages to the traditional practices for investigation of the complex lignocellulosic walls. Our goal is to...

A planetary ball milling was applied as a pretreatment of chitin powder to prepare precursors for chitin nanofiber (ChNF) production. The study aims to examine the effects of ball milling conditions (dry milling, and wet milling in neutral and acidic aqueous medium) on the degree of pre-fibrillation of the ChNF precursors and the characteristics of the resulting nanofibers. The results showed that no fibrous-morphology ChNFs were obtained using dry ball milling followed by high-pressure homogenization (HPH), but fibrous-morphology ChNFs were successfully prepared using wet ball milling as...

Cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs) naturally exist in plant biomass. The success of extraction of CNMs opened up a new era of using plant biomass for innovative industrial applications. Because CNMs are abundant, renewable, biodegradable, transparent, light weight and low in cost, they are ideal materials for large volume applications such as packaging, automotive, building and infrastructure. In many potential application areas, CNM-enabled products appear in a composite form, mostly polymer composites. The industrial-scale manufacturing of CNM/thermoplastic composites remains as a set of...

Wood and lignocellulosic-based material components are explored in this review as functional additives and reinforcements in composites for extrusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing. The motivation for using these sustainable alternatives in 3D printing includes enhancing material properties of the resulting printed parts, while providing a green alternative to carbon or glass filled polymer matrices, all at reduced material costs. Previous review articles on this topic have focused only on introducing the use of natural fillers with material extrusion AM and discussion of...

Green wood drying through a steam kiln-drying technology is an energy-demanding process. This process consumes a large amount of energy to evaporate water from wood and discharge it to the atmosphere through venting. The thermal energy loss from the venting of dry kilns takes up to 20% of total energy consumed by the whole wood-drying operation because a considerably large amount of thermal energy is stored in exhaust air. Harvesting and reusing such waste thermal energy would improve the energy efficiency of the kiln-drying process. Advanced moisture-selective membranes have been used to...

This review highlights the latest research studies about the use of lignocellulosic nanocellulose-based composites in the applications of wastewater treatment and waste-oil remediation. Three types of composites are described, including nanocellulose-based aerogels, nanocellulose-based membranes, and new wood-based morph-genetic materials. The fabrication and modification techniques to prepare these composites are introduced. The effectiveness and efficiency of these composites in the adsorption of heavy metal ions, dyes, and micropollutants, separation of oil and water, and catalytic...

In this study, nanocellulose was extracted from indigo-dyed denim fabric and the resultant nanocellulose properties were evaluated in comparison with those derived from bleached cotton fabric and wood pulp in order to investigate the potential of recycling denim waste for nanocellulose production and application. Sulfuric acid hydrolysis and (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl) oxyl (TEMPO)-oxidation were utilized to produce cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and cellulose nanofibers (TOCN), respectively. A stable CNC suspension with blue color was obtained after acid hydrolysis and the TEMPO...

Developing an efficient deconstruction step of woody biomass for biorefinery has been drawing considerable attention since its xylem cell walls display highly recalcitrance nature. Here, we explored transcriptional factors (TFs) that reduce wood recalcitrance and improve saccharifcation efficiency in Populus species. First, 33 TF genes up-regulated during poplar wood formation were selected as potential regulators of xylem cell wall structure.The transgenic hybrid aspens (Populus tremula ×Populus tremuloides) overexpressing each selected TF gene were screened for in vitro enzymatic...