A fundamental review of the relationships between nanotechnology and lignocellulosic biomass

Abstract

At first glance, the relationship between nanotechnology and lignocellulosic biomass may seem to be unconnected or at best tenuously connected. It is important to recognize that. at a fundamental level, lignocellulosic biomass is made up of nanometer-size constitutive building block units that provide valuable properties to wood and other types of renewable lignocellulosic and cellulosic biomaterials. Other composite biomaterials, such as bone, teeth, and seashells, have been found to owe their high strength and optical properties to the nanometer dimensions of their building blocks (Sarikaya et al. 2003). Similarly, the nanometer dimensions of the cellulose, lignin and other components provide the origin for the unique properties of wood and a host of wood-based products including paper, paperboard, oriented strandboard, glulam beams, etc. (Klemm et al. 2005). For example, paper represents a material produced from fibers that have been ‘pulped’ and refined to liberate fibrils, microfibrils/nanofibrils, and nanocrystalline cellulose that are responsible for its inherent strength and performance (Brown et al. 1987). While the relative mass of the nanofibrils and nanocrystalline cellulose are small their surface area is large and by number they represent an enormous fraction which has significant consequences.

Citation

Wegner, Theodore; Jones, E. Philip. 2009. A fundamental review of the relationships between nanotechnology and lignocellulosic biomass. In: Nanoscience and technology of renewable biomaterials, chapter 1. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. ; Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2009: p. 1-41: ISBN: 9781405167864 (cloth): 1405167866 (cloth).