Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The Pulp and Paper sector of the Canadian forest industry is at the forefront of the production of sustainable and renewable biomaterials. In addition to all of the various paper products that include printing and writing papers, hygiene products and packaging products, the sector is leading the development of novel fibre and polymer products. These products include Cellulose Nanocrystals by CellulForce, Cellulose microfibrils by FiloCell and kraft lignins by LignoForce. Cellulose micro/nano fibrils refer to cellulosic materials that have at least one dimension on the nano / micron scale. Such fibrillar materials are finding applications in a broad range of new materials that offer high strength, low density and other enhanced properties in hybrid composites, films, dispersions, foams, adhesives, etc. Cellulose micro/nano fibrils are currently manufactured from conventional kraft and chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP) pulp fibres using mechanical processes. These processes include high pressure homogenization; microfluidization, grinding; crushing and high intensity ultrasonication; and other means to impart physical forces on the pulp fibres to break down the cell wall into its fibrillary components. All of these processes take tremendous amounts of energy. To reduce the energy consumption the fibres are typically chemically pre-treated with either alkaline-acid, enzymes or ionic liquids. The current limitations with these processes is that they are either too expensive in terms of capital costs, pre-treatment chemistry and energy costs or are too difficult to scale to industrial applications. One of the first applications of these cellulose fibrils will be in advanced cellulose fibre materials, such as advanced packaging, insulation and absorbency products. For example, cellulose fibrils provide the ability to create high strength and low density packaging materials that have exceptional insulation properties. This novel and renewable insulation material may be the key technology that enables e-groceries to revolutionize the food sector. The long-term objectives are to develop convert low value biomass into high value MFC for integration into a wide range of novel materials including high performance paper, ultra low-density foam formed materials and products and eventually into high strength, multi-scalar hybrid composites that have the potential to revolutionize everything from transportation to civil infrastructure (Khan and Kim, 2011). To accomplish this we will need a fundamental understanding of MFC/fibre suspension physics applied to the manufacturing, processing and product development phases.