Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons^™

Biobased Packaging Materials From Cellulose Nanofibrils Produced From Virgin Wood Pulp Or Recycled Cardboard Pulp, Md Ikramul Hasan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-standing cellulose nanofibril (CNF) films are regarded as one of the promising alternatives to current petroleum-based packaging materials. The mechanical and barrier properties of CNF films are not yet up to the mark for certain applications, especially at high relative humidity. Those properties of CNF films can be tuned by the drying methods of films, degree of fibrillation, cross-linking, and controlled shrinkage. A comprehensive understanding of these processes and their influence on the structure and properties of CNF films have been presented in this thesis.

First, we prepared CNF films from CNF suspensions with two different degrees of fibrillation- standard …

Purification Of Biomass Hydrolyzates For The Promotion Of Xylose Diester Formation, Laura Fernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The application of a novel xylose isolation procedure using phenyl boronic acid esterification has been limited to the hydrolyzates of low extractive biomasses like hardwoods and agricultural resides. Hydrolyzates with lower sugar and higher extractive concentrations, like softwoods, have not yielded xylose, or even xylose diester (XDE), the first intermediate product in the new process, under the same conditions. This research applied evaporation concentration, adsorbent separation and membrane filtration to these lower performing biomass hydrolyzates to maximize the yield of the XDE formation step of the new xylose extraction process. Lab-scale tests of these techniques were applied to pine hydrolyzate …

Influence Of Mechanical Properties Of Paper Coating On The Crack At The Fold Problem, Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi Najafi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Paper coating layers are subject to various stresses and deformations in many converting processes such as calendering, printing, slitting, and folding of the paper. In some cases, products may crack during folding to generate a defect called cracking at the fold (CAF). The parameters that influence these defects are not well understood. The overall goal of this thesis is to better understand the CAF behavior as related to material properties of the coating layer.

A method was developed to produce free-standing pigmented coating layers thick enough to be tested in bending as well as tension. The mechanical properties of these …

Spray-Dried Cellulose Nanofibril-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites For Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing, Lu Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Compared to conventional manufacturing process, additive manufacturing (AM) offers free-form design, lighter and more ergonomic products, short lead time and less waste. Extrusion-based AM can be used to print thermoplastics. However, extrusion-based AM has processing challenges in printing semi-crystalline thermoplastics, for instance, polypropylene (PP). Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) are one type of cellulose nanofibers that are produced from pulp fibers. CNF has extraordinary properties which make it an ideal candidate to reinforce polymers. Spray-dried CNF (SDCNF) is able to be incorporated into thermoplastic matrices without modifying conventional processing procedures.

The mechanical properties of 3D printed plastic parts have been considered significantly …

So2-Alcohol-Water Fractionation Of Sugarcane Straw, Asif Sharazi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change resulting from fossil fuels combustion is motivating researchers to explore feasible routes to convert renewable biomass into biofuels and biochemicals for a sustainable society. Typically, biofuel is produced from corn or sugarcane but both feedstocks compete with human food supply. Thus, lignocellulosics as renewable feedstock represent a more ethical and ecofriendly approach. Sugarcane straw (SCS) is a cheap and abundantly available feedstock which potentially can be used for biofuels/biochemicals production. It can also help to mitigate environmental and health problems resulting from conventional practice of SCS burning in the fields.

There are different biomass conversion technologies for production …

Towards A Cost-Effective Biorefinery : Production Of Activated Carbons From Residual Biomass For Energy Storage Devices., Zachary Dean Herde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biomass processing for industrial products and biofuels has gained an increasing presence as society looks to using sustainable resources for manufacturing and renewable fuels for energy. However, these sustainably produced materials and products cannot gain a competitive edge because of the manufacturing expenses that are a result of high process temperatures and pressures. In order to lower these costs, theoretical modeling has described a value-added co-product strategy as one of the best ways to combat high bioprocessing prices. Biomass has been shown to make effective carbons for energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and batteries. These carbons, with the right …

Activated Carbon Preparation And Modification For Adsorption, Yuhe Cao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Butanol is considered a promising, infrastructure-compatible biofuel. Butanol has a higher energy content than ethanol and can be used in conventional gas engines without modifications. Unfortunately, the fermentation pathway for butanol production is restricted by its toxicity to the microbial strains used in the process. Butanol is toxic to the microbes, and this can slow fermentation rates and reduce butanol yields. Gas stripping technology can efficiently remove butanol from the fermentation broth as it is produced, thereby decreasing its inhibitory effects. Traditional butanol separation heavily depends on the energy intensive distillation method. One of the main issues in acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation …

Designing And Development Of A Photobioreactor For Optimizing The Growth Of Micro Algae And Studying Its Growth Parameters, Sarmila Katuwal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the estimated value of materials required to grow 1g of biomass and the analysis of the light intensity with respect to flow path and flow rate. This thesis aims to design the sparger for a flat plate Photobioreactor, study the flow patterns at different flow rate of air flow and check the performance of flat plate PBR by growing the cyanobacteria. The estimated value to produce 1g of biomass (C_44.6H₇O₂₅N_7.68P_0.9S_0.3) was 0.099g of N, 0.493g of C, 0.160 g of Na, 0.026 g of P, …

Green Thermosetting Factory: Novel Star-Shaped Bio-Based Systems And Their Thermosetting Resins; Synthesis And Characterization, Arash Jahandideh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing attentions toward sustainable development, economic and environmental issues have led to many attempts at replacing the petroleum-based materials with renewables. Substitution of petroleum-based platforms with green alternative technologies is beneficiary in different ways. Using bio-renewables reduces the dependency of the national plastic industry to the petroleum resources and substantially promotes the environmental profile and sustainability of the product. It is expected that the emergence of the corn-based thermosetting industry generates substantial profits for the corn production sector. Developments in the emerging biobased thermosets are spectacular from a technological point of view. However, there are still several disadvantages associated with …