Other Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Degumming Of Hemp Fibers Using Combined Microwave Energy And Deep Eutectic Solvent, Bulbul Ahmed

LSU Master's Theses

Hemp is considered as one of the sustainable agricultural fiber materials. Degumming or surface modification of hemp bast is needed to produce single fibers for ensuing textile and industrial applications. The traditional degumming process necessitates a high amount of alkali, which causes detrimental environmental pollution. This study offers a new method to degum hemp fibers with reduced use of harmful alkali and precious water resources. In this work, hemp bast fibers were degummed by using combined microwave energy and deep eutectic solvent (DES). The properties of hemp fibers manufactured by this method were investigated and compared with the traditional alkali …

Valorization Of Xylan In Agroforestry Waste Streams, Harrison Appiah

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Valorization of Xylan in Agroforestry Waste Streams.

Harrison Appiah

Microwave-assisted deep eutectic solvent and gamma-valerolactone metallic chloride catalyzed conversion of xylan to furfural were investigated using a 2x3 factorial experimental design at two levels of percent microwave power, reaction time, and catalyst concentration. The levels of each factor studied were (20%, 60% microwave power, 2, 4 minutes, and 10, 20mg) respectively. The effect of three metallic chloride catalysts (LiCl, FeCl3.6H20, CuCl2) on the conversion of xylan to furfural was also investigated. The gamma-valerolactone-ferric chloride sent system exhibited the highest mean yield of furfural (56.50%). The next highest furfural yield of …

Parameters That Influence The Performance Of Dispersion Barrier Coatings, Randy Raditya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Barrier coating layers are important in many paper grades used in food packaging and have the potential to help reduce our use of plastics in some situations. Barrier layers to produce water proof packaging such as milk or juice cartons or coffee cups are common. Water based dispersion barrier coatings have the potential to be a low-cost alternative to extrusion coated layers. Water borne coatings are reported to be easy to recycle and break down in the environment. However, barrier properties are often less than what is desired and expected for these water borne coatings. The reason for this poor …

Coating Component Migration In Paper Coatings, Emilia Purington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In many applications such as in paints and coatings, pigments are mixed with polymeric binders to generate the final product. In the coating of paper, properties like strength, durability, and print quality are affected not only by the binder type, but the final location of the binder relative to the pigments and the fibers. During the application and drying of a paper coating, binder is known to migrate. A number of methods are available to measure the migration of latex or starch. However, all of these methods have some limitations, especially when starch, latex and kaolin are components of the …

Structure And Morphology Of Sulfonated Polysulfone And Perfluorosulfonic Acid Ionomers, Chen Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

The limitations of conventional perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) based membrane materials have provoked the search for alternative materials which can function as the electrolyte in PEM fuel cells operated at higher temperatures (> 100 °C) and without humidification. A novel class of sulfonated poly(phenylene) sulfone (sPSO2) ionomers have shown much higher proton conductivity than typical PFSA membranes at elevated temperatures. In this dissertation, both computational and experimental methods were used to investigate proton transfer, morphological and structural properties of sPSO2 and PFSA ionomers. We have undertaken ab initio electronic structure calculations to understand the primary hydration and the transfer of protons …