Impact of biomass ash content on biocomposite properties

Xianhui Zhao; Oluwafemi Oyedeji; Erin Webb; Sanjita Wasti; Samarthya Bhagia; Holly Hinton; Kai Li; Keonhee Kim; Ying Wang; Hongli Zhu; Uday Vaidya; Nicole Labbé; Halil Tekinalp; Nidia C. Gallego; Yunqiao Pu; Arthur J. Ragauskas; Soydan Ozcan

doi:10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100319

Impact of biomass ash content on biocomposite properties

Xianhui Zhao, Oluwafemi Oyedeji, Erin Webb, Sanjita Wasti, Samarthya Bhagia, Holly Hinton, Kai Li, Keonhee Kim, Ying Wang, Hongli Zhu, Uday Vaidya, Nicole Labbé, Halil Tekinalp, Nidia C. Gallego, Yunqiao Pu, Arthur J. Ragauskas, Soydan Ozcan

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Owing to its low cost and sustainable nature, lignocellulosic biomass has been utilized for reinforcing polymers, but it is crucial to understand the impact of high-ash concentrations in biomass on composite strength and processing. Biomass is not only desirable for biofuel production but could also have a strong market, if high-ash biomass is acceptable, for biocomposites. In this work, natural fibers (switchgrass and corn stover) were used to reinforce polylactic acid (PLA) to produce biocomposites. Natural fibers were pretreated to obtain fibers that contain different percentages of ash. The mechanical properties (such as Young's modulus, tensile strength, failure strain, storage modulus) of corn stover/PLA composites remained largely unaffected by the ash concentration of the biomass fibers, despite the large range of ash contents (2.2–11.9 wt%). However, the tensile strengths of switchgrass/PLA composites were slightly negatively affected by the ash concentration of the switchgrass fibers (0.7–2.1 wt%). Both the switchgrass/PLA and the corn stover/PLA composites exhibited a high-enough tensile strength (49–57 MPa) and suitable complex viscosity (2.0−7.0 kPa·s at the frequency of 3.2 rad/s). They are expected to be 3D-printable through an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process.

Original language	English
Article number	100319
Journal	Composites Part C: Open Access
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100319
State	Published - Oct 2022

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge support from the US Department of Energy (DOE) FY 2021 BETO Project under Contract 2.5.6.105 with UT-Battelle LLC, and the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office under CPS Agreement 35714. This manuscript was authored in part by UT-Battelle LLC under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with DOE. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). The authors would like to acknowledge support from the US Department of Energy (DOE) FY 2021 BETO Project under Contract 2.5.6.105 with UT-Battelle LLC, and the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office under CPS Agreement 35714. This manuscript was authored in part by UT-Battelle LLC under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with DOE. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Funders	Funder number
DOE Public Access Plan
U.S. Department of Energy	2.5.6.105
Advanced Manufacturing Office	35714
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
UT-Battelle	DE-AC05-00OR22725

Keywords

Ash
Biocomposite
Mechanical property
Natural fiber
Polymer PLA

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100319

Cite this

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title = "Impact of biomass ash content on biocomposite properties",

abstract = "Owing to its low cost and sustainable nature, lignocellulosic biomass has been utilized for reinforcing polymers, but it is crucial to understand the impact of high-ash concentrations in biomass on composite strength and processing. Biomass is not only desirable for biofuel production but could also have a strong market, if high-ash biomass is acceptable, for biocomposites. In this work, natural fibers (switchgrass and corn stover) were used to reinforce polylactic acid (PLA) to produce biocomposites. Natural fibers were pretreated to obtain fibers that contain different percentages of ash. The mechanical properties (such as Young's modulus, tensile strength, failure strain, storage modulus) of corn stover/PLA composites remained largely unaffected by the ash concentration of the biomass fibers, despite the large range of ash contents (2.2–11.9 wt%). However, the tensile strengths of switchgrass/PLA composites were slightly negatively affected by the ash concentration of the switchgrass fibers (0.7–2.1 wt%). Both the switchgrass/PLA and the corn stover/PLA composites exhibited a high-enough tensile strength (49–57 MPa) and suitable complex viscosity (2.0−7.0 kPa·s at the frequency of 3.2 rad/s). They are expected to be 3D-printable through an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process.",

keywords = "Ash, Biocomposite, Mechanical property, Natural fiber, Polymer PLA",

author = "Xianhui Zhao and Oluwafemi Oyedeji and Erin Webb and Sanjita Wasti and Samarthya Bhagia and Holly Hinton and Kai Li and Keonhee Kim and Ying Wang and Hongli Zhu and Uday Vaidya and Nicole Labb{\'e} and Halil Tekinalp and Gallego, {Nidia C.} and Yunqiao Pu and Ragauskas, {Arthur J.} and Soydan Ozcan",

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year = "2022",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jcomc.2022.100319",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

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AU - Zhao, Xianhui

AU - Oyedeji, Oluwafemi

AU - Webb, Erin

AU - Wasti, Sanjita

AU - Bhagia, Samarthya

AU - Hinton, Holly

AU - Li, Kai

AU - Kim, Keonhee

AU - Wang, Ying

AU - Zhu, Hongli

AU - Vaidya, Uday

AU - Labbé, Nicole

AU - Tekinalp, Halil

AU - Gallego, Nidia C.

AU - Pu, Yunqiao

AU - Ragauskas, Arthur J.

AU - Ozcan, Soydan

PY - 2022/10

Y1 - 2022/10

N2 - Owing to its low cost and sustainable nature, lignocellulosic biomass has been utilized for reinforcing polymers, but it is crucial to understand the impact of high-ash concentrations in biomass on composite strength and processing. Biomass is not only desirable for biofuel production but could also have a strong market, if high-ash biomass is acceptable, for biocomposites. In this work, natural fibers (switchgrass and corn stover) were used to reinforce polylactic acid (PLA) to produce biocomposites. Natural fibers were pretreated to obtain fibers that contain different percentages of ash. The mechanical properties (such as Young's modulus, tensile strength, failure strain, storage modulus) of corn stover/PLA composites remained largely unaffected by the ash concentration of the biomass fibers, despite the large range of ash contents (2.2–11.9 wt%). However, the tensile strengths of switchgrass/PLA composites were slightly negatively affected by the ash concentration of the switchgrass fibers (0.7–2.1 wt%). Both the switchgrass/PLA and the corn stover/PLA composites exhibited a high-enough tensile strength (49–57 MPa) and suitable complex viscosity (2.0−7.0 kPa·s at the frequency of 3.2 rad/s). They are expected to be 3D-printable through an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process.

AB - Owing to its low cost and sustainable nature, lignocellulosic biomass has been utilized for reinforcing polymers, but it is crucial to understand the impact of high-ash concentrations in biomass on composite strength and processing. Biomass is not only desirable for biofuel production but could also have a strong market, if high-ash biomass is acceptable, for biocomposites. In this work, natural fibers (switchgrass and corn stover) were used to reinforce polylactic acid (PLA) to produce biocomposites. Natural fibers were pretreated to obtain fibers that contain different percentages of ash. The mechanical properties (such as Young's modulus, tensile strength, failure strain, storage modulus) of corn stover/PLA composites remained largely unaffected by the ash concentration of the biomass fibers, despite the large range of ash contents (2.2–11.9 wt%). However, the tensile strengths of switchgrass/PLA composites were slightly negatively affected by the ash concentration of the switchgrass fibers (0.7–2.1 wt%). Both the switchgrass/PLA and the corn stover/PLA composites exhibited a high-enough tensile strength (49–57 MPa) and suitable complex viscosity (2.0−7.0 kPa·s at the frequency of 3.2 rad/s). They are expected to be 3D-printable through an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process.

KW - Ash

KW - Biocomposite

KW - Mechanical property

KW - Natural fiber

KW - Polymer PLA

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ER -

Impact of biomass ash content on biocomposite properties

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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