1. Combined CNC and CNF production from Cladophora-algae Karl Mihhels – 8/3/2016

2. Algae as a source of cellulose
Cladophora-family algae especially attractive with up to 47% celulose content reported [4]
Furthermore, cellulose crystallinities of over 95% have been reported for Cladophora glomerata. [5]
C.Glomerata C. Aegagropila
Image sources:

3. Cladophora cellulose, what is the big deal?
Purely chemical treatment of Cladophora biomass gives these results [5] ( Na2ClO2 + NaOH + HCL)

4. Comparison with pulp fiber 1/2
[3] FESEM image of normal kraft pulp fiber

5. Comparison with pulp fiber 2/2
[1] Cladophora cellulose [3] Kraft-pulp cellulose

6. Comparison with wood-based NFC
[1] Cladophora cellulose [3] Kraft-pulp based NFC

7. Comparison with wood-based NFC
[6] Comparison of algal and Bleached Eukalyptus Pulp crystallinity
[6] (a) algal cellulose at 375x
(b) algal celulose at x
(c) algal cellulose after 10 pass microfluidiser
(d) algal cellulose after 20 pass microfluidiser

8. The Research goal
The ultimate goal is to find out if Cladophora-family algae could be a potential feedstock for commercial NFC-production.
Furthermore, this study will try to confirm some of the existing data about Cladophora cellulose and nanocellulose.

9. The Research plan
It remains debatable if Cladophora-cellulose is as crystalline as reported. It might be that the various pretreatments used in isolating pure cellulose also degrade the non-crystalline parts. Studies so far lack the necessary yield data to make these conclusions.
The answer is to investigate the cellulose yield and crystallinity as a function of different severities of pretreatments.
The baseline will be the method used by A. Miharayan et al. (2004)
The competing method will be the use of dicarboxylic acids to isolate cellulose. With some acids this also this will result in carboxylated CNC and CNF. (L. Chen et al. 2016)
A carbonhydrate analysis will be done to determine maximum cellulose yield

10. CNC/CNF production using organic acids
[2] A suggested production scheme for NFC production
Highly Thermal-stable and Functional Cellulose Nanocrystals and Nanofibrils Produced Using Fully Recyclabe Organic Acids; L.Chen, J.Y.Zhu, C. Baez, P. Kitin, T. Elder, Green chemistry, article in press, submitted march 2016

11. Sources
[1] Cellulosefrom Cladophorales Green Algae: From Enviromental Problem to High-Tech Composite Material, A. Mihranyan,, J. of App. Polym. Sci. 119: , 2011
[2]Highly Thermal-stable and Functional Cellulose Nanocrystals and Nanofibrils Produced Using Fully Recyclabe Organic Acids; L.Chen, J.Y.Zhu, C. Baez, P. Kitin, T. Elder, Green chemistry, article in press, submitted march 2016
[3] Structural Characterisation of Kraft Pulp Fibres and Their Nanofibrillated Materials for Biodegradable Composite Applications, Gary Chinga-Carrasco, Arttu Miettinen, Cris L. Luengo Hendriks, E. Kristofer Gamstedt and Markku Kataja (2011)., Nanocomposites and Polymers with Analytical Methods, Dr. John Cuppoletti (Ed.),
[4]The potential of photosynthetic aquatic species as sources of useful cellulose fibers – a review. E.P.Knoshaug, B. Shi, T.G. Shannon, M.M. Mleziva, P.T.PienkosJ. App. Phycol 25: , 2013
[5]Moisture Sorption of Cellulose Powders of varying crystallinity, A Mihranyan, A.P Llagostera, R. Karmhag, M. Strømme, R. Ek, International Journal of Pharmaceutics 269: , 2004
[6] A comparison of cellulose nanofibrils produced from Cladophora glomerata algae and bleached eukalyptus pulp, Z. Xiang, W. Gao, L. Chen, W. Lian, J.Y. Zhu, T. Runge, Cellulose 23: (2016)

12. Thank You for Your attention!