Synthesis of polymer blends using waste pulp modified with alkyl ester groups

Waste pulp, which is one of the biomass resources, was treated with straight-chain saturated fatty acid chlorides to obtain esterified waste pulps (EPs). All the hydroxyl groups in the glucose unit could be esterified, and the degree of substitution (DS) was successfully controlled by the reaction conditions. The melting points of the EPs decreased with increasing DS value as well as with increasing chain length of the ester group. GPC measurements revealed that the molecular weights of the EPs synthesized were in the range of 1.0 x 10(4)-5.0 x 10(4). TEM measurements showed that the blended films prepared from fully lauroylated EP (LP) and polyoxalate (POX) had microphase-separated structures. The miscibility between these polymers was found to be greatly influenced by the DS value.