Regenerated cellulose fibers from waste bagasse using ionic liquid

Abstract

Regenerated cellulose fibers from bagasse and wood were produced under various processing conditions using the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) as a solvent. Two different ionic liquid solutions were prepared with 6 wt% of bagasse cellulose and 6 wt% of wood cellulose. The solutions were extruded with a dry-jet and wet-spinning method using water as a coagulation bath. A thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) was used to measure the thermal properties of these regenerated fibers. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to determine the thermal mechanical property of the regenerated cellulose fibers and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) was used to measure the degree of crystallinity, as well as the degree of crystal orientation for those experimental fibers. To evaluate the quantity of ionic liquid residue in the regenerated fibers, the instrumental methods of FT-IR and mass spectrometry were applied to test the residues of BMIMCl in the regenerated fibers. Research results indicated increases in the degree of crystallinity and storage modulus under a higher fiber drawing speed. Both regenerated bagasse film and regenerated wood film had similar thermal properties. However, the regenerated bagasse fibers showed a higher degree of crystallinity, and higher tenacity than the regenerated wood fibers obtained under the same condition. The study also revealed that water treatment would be helpful for eliminating the ionic liquid residue in the regenerated fibers.