Journal
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
Volume 1, Issue 8, Pages 919-928Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/sc4000225
Keywords
Nanocellulose; Life cycle assessment; Environmental impact; Sustainable; TEMPO oxidation; Sonication; Homogenization
Categories
Funding
- Virginia Tech Sustainable Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program (VTSuN IGEP)
- Department of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech
- National Science Foundation [1236005]
- Directorate For Engineering
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys [1236005] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Nanocellulose is a nascent and promising material with many exceptional properties and a broad spectrum of potential applications. Because of the unique and functional materials that can be created using nanocellulose, pilot-scale development for commercialization has begun. Thus a thorough understanding of its environmental impact, covering the whole life cycle of nanocellulose, becomes the foundation for its long-term sustainable success. In this current study, four comparable lab scale nanocellulose fabrication routes were evaluated through a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) adopting the Eco-Indicator 99 method. The results indicated that, for the chemical-mechanical fabrication routes, the majority of the environmental impact of nanocellulose fabrication is dependent upon both the chemical modification and mechanical treatment route chosen. For sonication, the mechanical treatment overshadows that from the chemical modifications. Adapting the best practice based on unit mass production was 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidation followed by homogenization, as TEMPO oxidation resulted in a lower impact than carboxymethylation. Even though the fabrication process of nanocellulose presents a large environmental footprint markup relative to its raw material extraction process (kraft pulping), it still exhibits prominent environmental advantages over other nanomaterials like carbon nanotubes.
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