Nanocellulose biorefineries – A biomaterial with unparalleled perspectives – 2nd part: Cellulose NanoCrystals (CNC)

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Publication date: 22/04/2019.
Last update: 22/04/2019.

 Introduction

See “Nanocellulose biorefineries – A biomaterial with unparalleled perspectives – 1st part: Introduction”.

Shape and dimensions
           
Shape: Elongated. In the literature, they are compared with rice grains, rods, spindles and whiskers.
Dimensions: Typically, 4-15 nm in width and 50-500 nm in length.

Figure 1. CNC produced by Blue Goose Biorefineries (taken from Blue Goose Biorefineries website). Width: 9–14 nm. Length: 100–150 nm.

Properties

- Abundant, renewable and sustainable.
- Biocompatible.
- Electro-magnetic (charge surface).
- High aspect ratio (length to width).
- High temperature stability.
- High strength (in line with high-performance synthetic material as Kevlar®).
- High surface area.
- Light weight.
- Self-assembly.
- Shear thinning / Unique rheological properties.
- Versatile surface chemistry.

Production processes

The preparation of CNC was pioneered by Ránby in 1949. He used several mineral acids (including hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid), to selectively hydrolyse the disordered segments in native cellulose. At that time, recent commercialization of the TEM was instrumental for visualizing the nanocrystals. Historically, CNC has been produced following this method of acid hydrolysis, most often with sulfuric acid but also with hydrochloric acid. During the acid hydrolysis, the amorphous region is removed and the crystalline particles are released as showed in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Isolation of CNC from cellulose by sulfuric acid hydrolysis (taken from Reference [6] of the 1st part of this series)

Currently, acid hydrolysis is still the predominant and most efficient route to produce CNC with minimal energy consumption. However, it is important to mention that, in the last few years, new processes (like catalytic conversion and enzymatic hydrolysis) have been developed and scaled.

Applications

Much is being said in the last few years about the potential of the cellulose nanocrystals. CNC have gained a tremendous level of attention because of their unsurpassed physical and chemical properties, their abundance and their inherent renewability and sustainability. These are some of the markets and applications mentioned on the references:
- Adhesives: Viscosity modifier.
- Automotive: Polymer reinforcement and lightweighting.
- Construction: Concrete enhancer.
- Cosmetics: Texture modifier.
- Electronics: Conductive inks.
- Filtration: Mesoporous films and membranes.
- Food: Non-caloric stabiliser.
- Medical: Drug excipient and drug delivery.
- Paints and coatings: Rheology modifier.
- Paper and packaging: Flexible packaging with improved barrier properties.

Producers
           
The table below summarizes the current status of the CNC global market. The total production capacity is close to 600 tons/year. The criterion chosen for scale classification is the following: commercial > 10 tons/year, pilot from 1 ton/year to 10 ton/year and lab < 1 ton/year or unknown. In this way, there are 4 plants at commercial scale, 5 plants at pilot scale and 5 facilities at lab scale.

Company / Institution
Country
Product
[Trade name]
Scale
CelluForce
Canada
Sulphated CNCs [CelluForce NCC]
Commercial
American Process
(recently adquired by GranBio)
USA
CNCs [Bioplus]
Commercial
Sweetwater Energy
USA
CNCs
Commercial
Melodea
Sweden
Sulphated CNCs
Commercial
Alberta Innovates
Canada
Sulphated CNCs
Pilot
Forest Products Laboratory
USA
Sulphated CNCs
Pilot
ICAR CIRCOT
India
CNCs
Pilot
Blue Goose Biorefineries
Canada
Carboxylated CNCs [BGB Ultra]
Pilot
Innotech Materials LLC
USA
Oxidized CNC [SuCellose]
Pilot
Caspian Nanocellulose Polymer Development Co.
Iran
CNCs
Lab
Cellulose Lab
Canada
CNCs
Modifications
Lab
FPInnovations
Canada
Sulphated CNCs
Lab
Guilin Qihong Technology
China
Sulphated CNCs [QHCNC]
Lab
Tianjin Haojia Cellulose Co. / Tianjin Woodelf Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
China
CNCs [SHCNC]
Modifications
Lab

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
References
All the references of the 1st part of this series.
[S1] Innotech Alberta website: “Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) Pilot Plant” (accessed on March 2019).
[S2] Blue Goose Biorefineries website (accessed on March 2019).
[S3] CNPD website (accessed on March 2019).
[S4] CelluForce website (accessed on March 2019).
[S5] Cellulose Lab website (accessed on March 2019).
[S6] FPL website: "Nanocellulose Pilot Plant" (accessed on March 2019).
[S7] FPL website: "Just How Small is Nanocellulose?" (accessed on March 2019).
[S8] UMaine website: "Order Nanocellulose" (accessed on March 2019).
[S9] FPInnovations website: "CNC Factsheet" (accessed on March 2019).
[S10] Guilin Qihong Technology (accessed on March 2019).
[S11] ICAR-CIRCOT website: "Nanocellulose pilot plant" (accessed on March 2019).
[S12] Innotech Materials website (accessed on March 2019).
[S13] Presentation: Cellulose Nano Crystals (CNC), Biobuilding blocks for tomorrow’s materials. Dr. Shaul Lapidot, Melodea Co-founder and CEO.
[S14] Tianjin Haojia Cellulose Co. / Tianjin Woodelf Biotechnology Co., Ltd. website (accessed on March 2019).

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