With the global awareness for environmental issues and climate change in particular, the use of renewable materials has become increasingly topical. As the main structural component of plants, cellulose is the most abundant renewable polymer on earth. Designed by nature to be inert, however, its degradation is exceptionally challenging. Degradation of cellulose is important for two reasons: (i) isolating nanomaterials out of cellulosic fibres and (ii) extracting sugars from cellulose for the subsequent preparation of biofuels. Various methods of degradation of cellulose have been studied but most of them have not been found cost efficient. This project utilises a new pathway for cellulose degradation, namely the use of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas which involves no mass loss in the cellulose matrix and also the fibre morphology is minimally affected in the whole process. Moreover, an increase in crystallinity of cellulose can be observed and the reactive gas is easier to recycle than liquid generally used for cellulose degradation. The hydrolysis by HCl gas on natural fibres has been introduced by Prof. Kontturi's research group in 2016. This project, however, will investigate how regenerated cellulose would respond to the treatment by HCl gas. As regenerated cellulose has a weaker crystal and lower degree of order in general, its degradation into sugars (glucose) will be much more efficient. Moreover, the nanomaterials to be isolated from regenerated cellulose will have difference morphology and properties, paving the way for new types of nanomaterials that can be generated from renewable materials.

2019

2020