Research and Advances in Bio-Engineered Algae Nanocellulose at 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society

Scientists from all over the world will be reporting on the advances and research on nanocellulose, a material that has many applications from material technology to biofuel production.

Nanocellulose is a material made up of nanosized cellulose fibrils. It is about 5 to 20 nanometers wide and has variable length.

Nanocellulose is derived from wood fibers and shows exceptional strength characteristics. It is lightweight, durable and biodegradable. It has characteristics similar to plastic and is viscous under normal conditions, but flow (become thin, less viscous) over time when shaken, agitated, or otherwise stressed. When the shearing forces are removed the gel regains much of its original state. The fibrils are isolated from any cellulose containing source including wood-based fibers (pulp fibers) through high-pressure, high temperature and high velocity impact homogenization

As part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, several studies and advances on nanocellulose research are presented during the event.

MIT News: Researchers develop cost-effective way to spin nanoscale fibers

Image: A tiny array of silicon tips sandwiched between electrodes spins out "nanofibers" of plastic that could be useful for a host of applications.
Photo: Dominick Reuter

Nanofibers — strands of material only a couple hundred nanometers in diameter — have a huge range of possible applications: scaffolds for bioengineered organs, ultrafine air and water filters, and lightweight Kevlar body armor, to name just a few. But so far, the expense of producing them has consigned them to a few high-end, niche applications.

Luis Velásquez-García, a principal research scientist at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and his group hope to change that. At the International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications in December, Velásquez-García, his student Philip Ponce de Leon, and Frances Hill, a postdoc in his group, will describe a new system for spinning nanofibers that should offer significant productivity increases while drastically reducing power consumption.