Production of High-Solid-Content Fire-Retardant Phosphorylated Cellulose Microfibrils

Phosphorylated cellulosic micro(nano)fibrillated materials are increasingly considered for flame-retardant applications as a biobased alternative to their halogen-based counterparts. Most of the reported cellulose functionalization strategies, however, are realized at low solids contents and/or involve energy-intensive fiber disintegration methods. In this perspective, we propose an alternative concept of phosphorylated micro-fibrillated cellulose production with notably high (25 wt %) solids content and low (0.6 MWh/t) energy consumption. Here, an enzyme-aided pulp disintegration upon mild mechanical treatment was combined with an effective mixing of the fibrillated material with (NH4)(2)HPO4 in the presence of urea. Subsequently, the obtained slurry was cured at elevated temperature to enable cellulose phosphorylation, which was redispersed afterward in water. The morphology of the obtained phosphorylated micro(nano)fibrillated cellulose materials was extensively characterized by optical microscopy, a fiber analyzer, SEM, and AFM. The presence of phosphate groups in the cellulose structure was validated by ATR-FTIR as well as P-31 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy. The tasted films prepared from phosphorylated cellulose bearing a charge of 1540 mu mol/g, which was the highest among the prepared samples, demonstrated noticeably improved flame retardancy, leaving similar to 89% of the material after burning as well as self-extinguishing properties when the samples were subjected to a butane flame for 3 s.

Automated summary

This study presents an alternative method for producing phosphorylated micro-fibrillated cellulose with high solids content and low energy consumption, and explores the impact of phosphorylated cellulose on flame-retardant properties. By combining enzyme-aided pulp disintegration with effective mixing techniques, phosphorylated cellulose materials with high charge were successfully prepared, demonstrating improved flame retardancy properties.