Publication detail

Greener production of cellulose nanocrystals: An optimised design and life cycle assessment

Zhang, L., Jia, X., Ai, Y., Huang, R., Qi, W., He, Z., Klemeš, J.J., Su, R.

Original Title

Greener production of cellulose nanocrystals: An optimised design and life cycle assessment

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are usually prepared by sulphuric acid hydrolysis in industrial production, resulting in a large amount of alkaline and water consumption. In this paper, three acid-CNCs separation methods, including gravity settling, centrifugation and microfiltration, are used to directly separate sulphuric acid from hydrolysate mixture to reduce alkaline and water consumption. Microfiltration was selected as the best method for acid-CNCs separation. Using microfiltration, the highest sulphuric acid recovery ratio was about 65.0%, with an acid concentration range of 8–10 wt% in the pilot-scale CNCs production. Continuous centrifugation was introduced to replace gravity settling to separate CNCs from the neutralised mixture for faster production and reducing water consumption. The consumption of alkaline and water decreased by 63.0% and 68.0%, and the cost was reduced by 26%. The result of life cycle assessment (LCA) showed that the process with acid-CNCs separation using microfiltration achieved a reduction of 33.4% in aquatic ecotoxicity, 38.1% in terrestrial ecotoxicity, 47.9% in aquatic acidification, 55.8% in aquatic eutrophication, 40.0% in global warming potential and 47.8% in non-renewable energy consumptions. This study provided a promising approach for separating sulphuric acid from hydrolysate mixture and reducing consumption of alkaline and water. Such clean and economic process has great potential in the industrial production of CNCs.

Keywords

Acid separation; Cellulose nanocrystals; Centrifugation; Gravity settling; Life cycle assessment; Microfiltration; Nanocellulose

Authors

Zhang, L., Jia, X., Ai, Y., Huang, R., Qi, W., He, Z., Klemeš, J.J., Su, R.

Released

15. 4. 2022

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

ISBN

0959-6526

Periodical

Journal of Cleaner Production

Number

345

State

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Pages from

131073

Pages to

131073

Pages count

13

URL

https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.vutbr.cz/science/article/pii/S0959652622007065

BibTex

@article{BUT177109,
  author="Xuexiu {JIA} and Jiří {Klemeš}",
  title="Greener production of cellulose nanocrystals: An optimised design and life cycle assessment",
  journal="Journal of Cleaner Production",
  year="2022",
  number="345",
  pages="131073--131073",
  doi="10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131073",
  issn="0959-6526",
  url="https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.vutbr.cz/science/article/pii/S0959652622007065"
}