Title
Environmentally friendly lignocellulose nanofibres from barley straw
Authors
MONTSERRAT JUÁREZ RAFAEL SÁNCHEZ EDUARDO ESPINOSA JUAN DOMÍNGUEZ-ROBLES ISABEL BASCÓN-VILLEGAS and ALEJANDRO RODRÍGUEZ

Received This paper is dedicated to the 70^th anniversary of Acad. Bogdan C. Simionescu in acknowledgement of his major contribution to the quality of the research in Romania.
Published Volume 52 Issue 7-8 July-August
Keywords barley straw, cellulose pulp, lignocellulose nanofibres, papermaking, paper strength, PFI-beating

Abstract
Due to the environmental awareness in our society, this paper explores the possibility of obtaining high value-added products from agricultural wastes, such as cereal straw. The raw material chosen for this study was barley straw, which was pulped by a Specel® pulping process. This process uses soda (7% on oven dried material) as reagent. The chemical composition of both barley straw and unbleached pulp was determined through different parameters (alcohol extractives, α-cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin and ash). Lignocellulose nanofibres (LCNF) were obtained by subjecting the pulp to mechanical pretreatment, followed by a high-pressure homogenizer step. The produced LCNF were characterized with regard to the nanofibrillation yield, viscosity, cationic demand and carboxyl content. The LCNF were added to a papermaking slurry based on virgin eucalyptus (bleached Kraft hardwood pulp), in amounts of 1, 3 and 5% as reinforcement. Paper sheets were made and characterized with regard to their mechanical properties. The results indicated that paper strength was improved after the addition of LCNF.