Fiber ozonolysis process for biorefinery: a green simultaneous regeneration of periodate oxidant and preparation of carboxylated cellulose nanofibrils
摘要
Ozone serves as a green oxidizing agent, and commonly employed in biomass refining processes. This study demonstrates a sustainable approach using ozone to regenerate periodate during natural fiber oxidation, simultaneously producing dialdehyde cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) as value-added nanomaterials. The results showed that ozone molecules generated reactive oxygen species under alkaline conditions including hydroxyl radicals (∙OH), superoxide anions (∙O₂⁻), and hydroperoxyl radicals (∙HO₂⁻), which effectively oxidized iodate (IO₃⁻) to periodate (IO₄⁻). The optimal periodate regeneration yield (> 80% after 4 cycles) was achieved at pH 13 with 2.0 wt% ozone concentration for 30 min under ambient temperature conditions. In general, a synergistic strategy using ozone (2.0 wt%, 30 min) to simultaneously regenerate periodate and produce carboxylated CNFs was also elucidated with fiber oxidative degradation limited to < 16%. The obtained value-added carboxylated CNFs, with a carboxyl group content of approximately 1.2 mmol/g, exhibited excellent processability for fabricating functional biomaterial. The length of carboxylated CNFs generally exceeded 600 nm, and the average diameter was further reduced to 18.77 nm. The study indicated that the ozonation process can be effectively applied in oxidative refining of natural fibers, while significantly enhancing the added value of biomass resources.