Potential uses of N-methylmorpholine N-oxide for the treatment of agricultural waste biomass

Abstract

Lignocellulosic fibers have been used in polymer composites for a long time but their treatment process is still challenging due to insufficient efficiency and environmental impact. This research analyses the influence of N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) on the structure and properties of three types of lignocellulosic fibers – sweet clover (SCS), buckwheat (BS) and rapeseed straws (RS). The fibers were treated with an NMMO solution at 90 °C for different periods of time (80 min, 180 min, 300 min and 30 h). It was detected that after treatment in a dilute NMMO solution, non-cellulosic substances were removed, the morphology and aspect ratio were affected and the fibers were characterized by higher thermal stability. However, the results show that before using NMMO for the production of microfibers, additional research on the pretreatment process will be necessary because an insufficient aspect ratio value and surface morphology were obtained. The current research shows that it is not economically feasible to process fibers using NMMO for the production of reinforcement for polymer composites.

Keywords

• nmmo
• buckwheat straw
• rapeseed straw
• sweet clover straw
• lignocellulosic fiber.