Sonication-assisted surface modification method to expedite the water removal from cellulose nanofibers for use in nanopapers and paper making

Abstract This paper addresses the issue of high water retention by cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) that lead to exorbitant time consumption in the dewatering of CNF suspensions. This has been a bottleneck, which is restricting the commercialization of CNF derived products such as nanopapers and CNF reinforced paper sheets. As a remedy, we suggest an eco-friendly water-based approach that involves the use of sonication energy and lactic acid (LA) to modify the surface of CNFs. The suggested modification resulted in rapid water drainage, and dewatering was completed in 10 min; with unmodified CNFs, it took around 45 min. We have also compared the draining characteristics of LA modification of CNF suspensions with a common draining agent (NaCl); LA modification drains water 56% faster than the use of NaCl, and produced mechanically superior dimensionally stable nanopaper. Additionally, LA modification allows the addition of 10 wt.% CNF in paper sheets, with dewatering done in 2 min (while the unmodified CNFs took 23 min)