Obtention of fibers with high cellulose content by means of enzymatic and chemical treatments

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to obtain dissolving cellulose fibers that are suitable for the manufacturing of cellulose derivatives. Therefore, the combination of enzymatic and chemical treatments during the bleaching stage (lignin removal) and purification stage (hemicellulose removal) is proposed. The obtained dissolving cellulose was submitted to acetylation reactions, and then acetate films were prepared as an example of end product. Assessing the quality of acetate films, it was concluded that dissolving cellulose fibers had excellent properties and fulfilled the quality requirements. These satisfactory results were compared with acetate films obtained under same acetylation conditions, but the dissolving cellulose fibers used as a raw material came from a conventional and industrial process