Preview of 2015 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials
by Jack Miller, Principal Consultant, Market-Intell LLC
Nanocellulose has been studied for decades, but is now making the leap from the lab to the market. Most recently, American Process, Inc. started up a 1/2 tonne per day demonstration plant in Thomaston, GA. The plant will produce BioPlusTM cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), and a plant tour will be a feature of TAPPI’s 2015 International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Nanomaterials. In addition, Dr. Theodora Retsina, CEO of American Process, Inc. (API) will be one of two keynote speakers at the conference.
Other commercial installations have been appearing in the last few years as well. In 2012, CelluForce started up a one tonne per day cellulose nanocrystal plant in Windsor QC, the first commercial nanocellulose facility in the world. In addition, the Paperlogic mill (formerly Southworth) in Tuners Falls MA will start up a two ton per day cellulose nanofibril plant “before mid-year.” The Paperlogic facility will produce CNF for use in nanocellulose paper and other applications. Kenneth Schelling of Southworth will speak about the process of designing and constructing a cellulose nanofibril production facility.
Following a welcome and opening keynote by keynote by Marie D'Iorio, Executive Director, National Institute for Nanotechnology, one track will follow composites, and another track will follow lab and pilot scale developments with discussions of pathways to commercialization. The composites track will feature four sessions with topics that include epoxy formulations, carbon fibers, and cement. Jeff Youngblood of Purdue University will talk about high performance cement with CNC and Vivek Bindinganavile of the University of Alberta will talk about the effect of CNC on the rheology of oil well cement paste. Calgar Mercier of the University of Bologna will speak on MFC-based composite films for improved gas barrier, and Richard Venditti of North Carolina State University and Wadood Hamad of FPInnovations will address thermoplastic nanocomposites. The interface between CNC and the polymer matrices is also a key topic, with presentations from John Simonsen of Oregon State University on PLA/CNC nanocomposites and Erin Sullivan of Georgia Tech.
In the lab and pilot scale developments track, David Skuse of Imerys will discuss the FiberLean microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) program and Juuso Johannes of Aalto university will address optimization of the microstructure of MFC composite paper. Mike Bilodeau of the University of Maine will talk about the collaboration between the Maine Process Development Center, the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, GL&V, and the Paperlogic commercial nanocellulose plant.
Market forecasts range from 50,000 tonnes of CNC and 400,000 tonnes of CNF by 20251 to 34 million tonnes of nanocellulose “near term2.” Clearly, there is great potential, but the market has been slow to develop, which is not unusual for new technology. Several “grand challenges” are well known: cost, availability of materials for development, and compatibility and dispersibility of nanocellulose with various media.
Scale up from lab to demonstration plant or pilot plant to commercial scale will, of course, bring costs down from hundreds or even thousands of dollars per pound to dollars per pound. Much work has been done on process to bring costs down, and this will be a topic of the conference. The emergence of the CelluForce, American Process and Paperlogic commercial facilities, plus the cellulose filaments (CF) plants at Kruger and Performance Biofilaments have gone a long way to addressing the second grand challenge: availability.
The third grand challenge has been even more problematic, but solutions are emerging. Nanocellulose is typically produced in the form of a slurry. For paper mills that produce nanofibrils for use on site, this is not a problem but for all other applications, it must be dried if it is to be shipped economically. When nanocellulose is dried, it tends to agglomerate with hydrogen bonds that preclude redispersion. Jim Snyder of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory will talk about drying techniques to improve dispersibility. It has been reported that the presence of charged sulfate groups on the surface of CNCs promote dispersibility but some researchers still report challenges. Carson Meredith of Georgia Tech will speak about improving CNC dispersion by simply modifying the order of addition of nanocomposite components and Hiroaki Nampa of Nippon Paper will speak about dried cellulose nanomaterials which are easily redispersed in water.
Even if the nanocellulose is dispersible, it must also be compatible with the polymer or medium it is to be dispersed in. By nature, nanocellulose is hydrophilic, and is therefore not compatible with hydrophobic polymer s and resins, or with oil based solvents. Arie Tru Nugroho Mulyadi of Georgia Tech will speak about surface modification though grafting to improve compatibility, and Kim Nelson of American Process will speak about low cost compatibilization of cellulose nanofibrils and nano crystals with lignin.
Once the grand challenges are met, applications with a sound economic value proposition are the key to commercialization. Rheology modification and reinforcement, including improved gas barrier, are two major classes of applications.
Beyond rheology and reinforcement, advanced topics include membranes, electronics, antibacterial and biocompatible materials for medical applications. All told, the conference will feature more than 100 presentations on topics ranging from characterization to standards development, and will explore applications such as cement, oil and gas, electronics, and antibacterial and biocompatibility for medical applications.
Notes: 1. RISI: Nanocellulose: Technology, Applications and
Markets, 2014
2.
USDA
