Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Wet wipe dispersibility is broadly discussed since they have been detected in massive fatbergs that were found in sewer systems of big cities, e.g., London. Dispersibility describes a wet wipe’s ability to disintegrate into its fibres after being flushed in the toilet. Recently it has been found that this dispersibility of pilot-scale produced wet wipes can reduce when stored in a wet condition. This phenomenon is called dispersibility ageing. With this work we give a first approach on analysing the underlying mechanisms causing this solidification of wet wipes by measurement of the water-fibre-interactions and the mechanical strength of the wipes. Long-term swelling of the wood pulp is discussed as a possible root cause for the observed loss in dispersibility. Wet strength theory was used to find three possible mechanisms that are able to explain increased strength as a result of swelling: knot-tightening, increased friction and interdiffusion. To investigate the strength behaviour of wet wipes over wet storage time, tensile testing and a new approach to measure the disintegration energy of these fabrics were used to find a time-dependent increased mechanical characteristic. Surprisingly no increase in wet strength or disintegration energy—measured by short span, low test speed wet tensile energy absorption—over wet storage time was found. The dispersibility ageing effect of wet wipes is seemingly not measurable using mechanical testing. It seems that these test methods are not representative for the loading situation during disintegration in the sewer system and in the standard disintegration tester.

In order to apply finishing particles onto fabrics, several methods such as, padding, bath exhaustion, spraying and foaming can be used. In this research, spray treatment is compared to padding when applying TiO2 nanoparticles onto textiles. Cotton fabric surfaces were observed by scanning electron microscopy and characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and energy dispersive using X-ray (EDX). EDX technique showed that it was a suitable method to detect the presence of Ti particles on the fabric surface. We confirm that the fabric treated by padding contained procedure a higher quantity of Ti particles than the one treated by spraying. On the other hand, we compared two different auxiliary products to bind the particles onto the fibers, an acrylic resin and the polycarboxylic acid 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) in the presence of sodium hypophosphite. We used EDX to evaluate the effectiveness of both binders after washing. Compared with samples without a binder treatment, many more TiO2 particles were retained on the fibers with the acrylic resin after five washing cycles. When treated with BTCA, however, the results were comparable to the sample with no binder.

Cellulose activation is a necessary step in many industrial processes including production of cellulose derivatives, regenerated cellulose, biofuels and biochemicals. Expansins and expansin-related proteins have been shown to disrupt the fibrillar aggregation and loosen the structure of lignocellulosic materials but typically lack lytic activity. Therefore, they offer a new but rather unexploited possibility for biomass to obtain better accessibility and reactivity. From an applied perspective, expansin-related proteins have been investigated for their potential to promote enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic substrates for the purpose of producing biofuels. The aim of this review is to compare conventional and emerging technologies relevant to cellulose activation, and critically evaluate the potential of expansin-related proteins for this purpose. As part of this assessment, methods to evaluate the action of expansin-related proteins on cellulosic substrates are summarized, and reported impacts are discussed in relation to source of the cellulosic substrate and treatment conditions. An outlook on prospective applications of expansin-related proteins is presented.

In this work, the effects of a chitosan-based derivative (CSA), DOPO (9, 10-dihydro-9-oxa-10- phosphaphenanthreene-10-oxide) and CSA-DOPO additives on the flammable properties of EP (epoxy resin) composites were systematically studied, where CSA was synthesized by a facile condensation between chitosan (CS) and 9-anthralaldehyde. The mass ratio of CS and 9-anthralaldehyde in CSA was determined by elemental analysis and theoretical calculation. Under the 8% addition in EP, EP/2.66%/5.34%DOPO sample was the only one passing the UL-94 V-0 rating and exhibiting the highest LOI value of 36.4%. The cone calorimeter test (CC) showed that the total smoke emission value and the peak heat release rate of the EP/2.66%/5.34%DOPO decreased by 36.0% and 61.9%, and the residual char amount increased by 151%, respectively, when compared with EP. Moreover, the incorporation of CSA/DOPO effectively improved the flexural strength by 52.3%. According to the results obtained from Py-GC/MS analyses for EP and EP/2.66%CSA/5.34%DOPO samples, together with Raman spectra, XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectra) for their char residues, and the real time FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectra at different pyrolysis temperatures and cone calorimeters, it was proposed that CSA/DOPO played roles in both gaseous and condensed phases, and the synergistic effect of CSA and DOPO significantly improved the flame retardancy and mechanical strength of EP.

Polydopamine (PDA)—decorated porous cellulose acetate microspheres (PCA/PDA) were synthesized and employed as support for Ag–Fe3O4 NPs (SFNPs) by an in situ one pot method without additional reductants. Different PCA/SFNPs have been studied using various characterization techniques. The as-prepared PCA/PDA/SFNPs exhibited excellent catalytic property for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol within 10 min and strong bactericidal activity against E. coli. Interestingly, the corresponding rate constant increased with the increase of SFNPs amount in PCA/PDA and PCA/PDA/SFNPs showed significantly higher catalytic activity as compared to those exhibited by SFNPs deposited on deacetylated porous cellulose acetate/SFNPs microspheres (DPCA/SFNPs). The enhanced catalytic performance may be attributed to the improved adsorbability and dispersity of SFNPs via the introduction of abundant amine and catechol groups of PDA onto the PCA nanoporous structure. This work has demonstrated the PCA/PDA/SFNPs may hold application potentials in various fields.

This review addresses the structure, properties, applications and future scope of lemongrass, which constitutes an abundant source of plant material around the world. As a source of cellulose, it has been successfully used for the adsorption of metal ions and dyes and for manufacturing paper and pulp. Recently, it has shown promise in the production of composites and bio energy, as well as obtaining silica and other metal oxides. However, previous research studies have mostly concentrated on utilizing the biological activities of the constituents in therapeutic uses, food preservation, cosmetics and agriculture. Therefore, this review covers literature on all areas of current studies on lemongrass and identifies its multidimensional potential. Furthermore, this review describes the intended application of lemongrass as a source of cellulosic matter, more specifically in the materials science field.