328
14 Cellulose
14.7.8 Conductive Cellulose Paper
Due to the large surface area of green algae sourced cellulose, it makes a good
conductive flexible paper with numerous potential applications. Cellulose in general
has good compatibility with polypyrrole (PPy). Cellulose-PPy composites possess
the mechanical properties of paper and the conductive properties of metal. This has
potential applications such as energy storage and sensors and a range of other low
cost, mass reproducible conductive devices.
Green algae cellulose-PPy composites that have been produced have recorded a
conductivity of 0.3 S/cm (Mihranyan 2010).
Cellulose extracted from water hyacinth has been used as a reducing agent and a
capping agent for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Monodisperse, spherical
silver nanoparticles with size 2.68–5.69 nm are obtained using cellulose extracted
from water hyacinth as reducing agent and a capping agent (Mochochoko et al. 2013).
This further shows the broad range of applicability of cellulose in green extraction
processes for high-value products such as silver nanoparticle.
14.8 Commercial Production
Cellulose is relatively well explored commercially. Since prehistoric times, cellulosebased materials have been used for paper and textiles. After paperboard, man-made
cellulosic fiber is the next largest biopolymer commodity by volume (Shen and Patel
2010). In the earlier years of the textile industry, 70% of the textiles in the world
were cotton based. The textile industry depending on one plant for raw material poses
limitations such as nutrient consumption from soil and large areas of land required
for cultivation. In addition to this, cotton being a plant that is endemic to only a few
regions in the world meant dependency on importation for many and concentration
of resources in only a few areas. On the contrary, aquatic plants such as duckweed
and water hyacinth are endemic to almost all regions of the world in abundance.
The 1930s brought forth the innovation of man-made fibers sourced from cellulosic plants. This allowed cellulose to be extracted from, mainly wood and cotton
lint, and then processed into fabrics (Albrecht 2004). The man-made cellulosic fibers
have considerable market value, and as of 2002, global production of man-made cellulose reached 2800 kt annually (Aizenshtein 2004; Lenzing AG 2006). While the
global production of cotton and petroleum-based synthetic fibers have both shown
steep rises in the past decades, man-made cellulose fiber production rate has not
shown as much increase. This can be attributed to the limited land-based resources.
Use of aquatic plants could potentially boost commercial production of man-made
cellulosic fibers.
The cellulosic fiber industry is of more significance now as land resource for growing cotton becomes scarce and the fossil resource for fossil-based synthetic fibers is
14 Cellulose
14.7.8 Conductive Cellulose Paper
Due to the large surface area of green algae sourced cellulose, it makes a good
conductive flexible paper with numerous potential applications. Cellulose in general
has good compatibility with polypyrrole (PPy). Cellulose-PPy composites possess
the mechanical properties of paper and the conductive properties of metal. This has
potential applications such as energy storage and sensors and a range of other low
cost, mass reproducible conductive devices.
Green algae cellulose-PPy composites that have been produced have recorded a
conductivity of 0.3 S/cm (Mihranyan 2010).
Cellulose extracted from water hyacinth has been used as a reducing agent and a
capping agent for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Monodisperse, spherical
silver nanoparticles with size 2.68–5.69 nm are obtained using cellulose extracted
from water hyacinth as reducing agent and a capping agent (Mochochoko et al. 2013).
This further shows the broad range of applicability of cellulose in green extraction
processes for high-value products such as silver nanoparticle.
14.8 Commercial Production
Cellulose is relatively well explored commercially. Since prehistoric times, cellulosebased materials have been used for paper and textiles. After paperboard, man-made
cellulosic fiber is the next largest biopolymer commodity by volume (Shen and Patel
2010). In the earlier years of the textile industry, 70% of the textiles in the world
were cotton based. The textile industry depending on one plant for raw material poses
limitations such as nutrient consumption from soil and large areas of land required
for cultivation. In addition to this, cotton being a plant that is endemic to only a few
regions in the world meant dependency on importation for many and concentration
of resources in only a few areas. On the contrary, aquatic plants such as duckweed
and water hyacinth are endemic to almost all regions of the world in abundance.
The 1930s brought forth the innovation of man-made fibers sourced from cellulosic plants. This allowed cellulose to be extracted from, mainly wood and cotton
lint, and then processed into fabrics (Albrecht 2004). The man-made cellulosic fibers
have considerable market value, and as of 2002, global production of man-made cellulose reached 2800 kt annually (Aizenshtein 2004; Lenzing AG 2006). While the
global production of cotton and petroleum-based synthetic fibers have both shown
steep rises in the past decades, man-made cellulose fiber production rate has not
shown as much increase. This can be attributed to the limited land-based resources.
Use of aquatic plants could potentially boost commercial production of man-made
cellulosic fibers.
The cellulosic fiber industry is of more significance now as land resource for growing cotton becomes scarce and the fossil resource for fossil-based synthetic fibers is