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An Experimental Investigation of Dry Thermopressed Cellulose

Frick, Emmelina LU (2023) KASM10 20231
Centre for Analysis and Synthesis
Abstract
Plastic waste, especially from packaging, keeps increasing. As a consequence, harmful
effects on animals and whole ecosystems as well as increasing greenhouse gas emissions
can be seen. More sustainable materials are therefore needed, and dry thermopressed
cellulose shows promising potential in replacing plastics in several packaging applications.
Being a novel type of moulded pulp process, the research made on the subject is limited,
and the aim is thus to investigate the process parameter effects in dry thermopressing.
Pad area, grammage, pressure, pad moisture, temperature and press time effects were
evaluated from measurements of product thickness, density and amount of evaporated
water during pressing. Temperature and press... (More)
Plastic waste, especially from packaging, keeps increasing. As a consequence, harmful
effects on animals and whole ecosystems as well as increasing greenhouse gas emissions
can be seen. More sustainable materials are therefore needed, and dry thermopressed
cellulose shows promising potential in replacing plastics in several packaging applications.
Being a novel type of moulded pulp process, the research made on the subject is limited,
and the aim is thus to investigate the process parameter effects in dry thermopressing.
Pad area, grammage, pressure, pad moisture, temperature and press time effects were
evaluated from measurements of product thickness, density and amount of evaporated
water during pressing. Temperature and press time were further investigated through
Cobb and sorption analyses, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy.
The product thickness was affected by grammage, pressure, temperature and
press time. The density was mostly affected by the press time, and only to some extent
by the temperature. The amount of evaporated water depended linearly on the pad area,
but also on temperature, pad moisture and grammage. It was concluded that the evaporation
of water is not responsible for the densification during dry thermopressing, and
that there is a press time beyond which the thickness, density and water absorptiveness
are not further affected. Furthermore, it was determined that both free and bound water
is evaporated during dry thermopressing, and that the temperature and press time in
combination affect the softening and moulding properties of the fibres. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Frick, Emmelina LU
supervisor
organization
course
KASM10 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Dry thermopressed cellulose, Packaging, Sustainable materials, Materials chemistry
language
English
id
9126252
date added to LUP
2023-06-21 10:57:28
date last changed
2023-06-21 10:57:28
@misc{9126252,
  abstract     = {{Plastic waste, especially from packaging, keeps increasing. As a consequence, harmful
effects on animals and whole ecosystems as well as increasing greenhouse gas emissions
can be seen. More sustainable materials are therefore needed, and dry thermopressed
cellulose shows promising potential in replacing plastics in several packaging applications.
Being a novel type of moulded pulp process, the research made on the subject is limited,
and the aim is thus to investigate the process parameter effects in dry thermopressing.
Pad area, grammage, pressure, pad moisture, temperature and press time effects were
evaluated from measurements of product thickness, density and amount of evaporated
water during pressing. Temperature and press time were further investigated through
Cobb and sorption analyses, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy.
The product thickness was affected by grammage, pressure, temperature and
press time. The density was mostly affected by the press time, and only to some extent
by the temperature. The amount of evaporated water depended linearly on the pad area,
but also on temperature, pad moisture and grammage. It was concluded that the evaporation
of water is not responsible for the densification during dry thermopressing, and
that there is a press time beyond which the thickness, density and water absorptiveness
are not further affected. Furthermore, it was determined that both free and bound water
is evaporated during dry thermopressing, and that the temperature and press time in
combination affect the softening and moulding properties of the fibres.}},
  author       = {{Frick, Emmelina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{An Experimental Investigation of Dry Thermopressed Cellulose}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}