Browsing by Author "Raatz, Kyle Franco"

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    Cellulose nanocrystals isolated from South African invasive wood species
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Raatz, Kyle Franco; Meincken, Martina; Lutz, Marietjie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Forest and Wood Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The increased use of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) due to their high strength, environmentally friendly and renewable source presents a possibility to add value to the potential waste product of South African invasive trees. This material, with its superior characteristics, has been used in a variety of applications including heart valves, microelectronics pumps and liquid crystal displays (LCD). In this study CNCs obtained from two invasive hardwood species, namely acacia, eucalyptus were compared to CNCs isolated from commercial cellulose, with an unknown wood source and from pine, a softwood. CNCs were synthesised via acid hydrolysis and then characterised with Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). No clear difference was determined between hardwoods and softwoods and CNCs synthesised from invasive tree species were found to be similar, if not superior, to CNCs from commercial cellulose