Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Cellulose extraction

Rynoaus - 17-3-2016 at 13:49

Hi can anyone suggest a way to extract cellulose from wood at home. For eg one patent basically starts with an acid treatment of the feed stock then progressive alkaline washings to remove lignins with a boiling step and also bleaching step. I really just need crude cellulose it doesn't need to be white. So if I was to keep doing alkaline extractions I should end up with the product I need or not. Maybe soak in Sodium hydroxide solution allow to "leach" then filter, wash with h2o filter and repeat? Is the boiling step very important to help break the wood and if you didn't boil it would it just take longer to break down the wood. Just looking for a very simple process I've been trying variations of the above without much success. Am I on the wrong track? Cheers

mayko - 17-3-2016 at 15:20

Have you looked into Schweizer's reagent? (I'd be a little concerned about lignin interfering with the extraction, but Wikipedia claims that it's effective on wood pulp)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweizer's_reagent

Artemus Gordon - 18-3-2016 at 13:12

I'm curious why you want to use wood as a source. Paper is the most common cellulose source put into Schweizer's reagent. I would think that wood would have to be ground up fairly fine. If you are a woodworker and you already have piles of sawdust, that would make sense, but otherwise, I suspect you are going to be disappointed in your yield.

Metacelsus - 18-3-2016 at 13:36

Industrially, the Kraft process is used to get cellulose from wood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_process#The_process

You might be able to do a similar method on a smaller scale.

Rynoaus - 18-3-2016 at 17:25

I'm looking for potential contaminants from one end of cellulose acetate production to the other. I'm trying to find out where any trace metals may be and if they can be removed easily.So I'm trying to work up from forest to factory on a small scale to get some samples to test from each stage of production. I have an idea it may not be right it's just an idea I had from reading a 2015 study on metals contained in trees and other plants

Ozone - 18-3-2016 at 17:58

You can also treat the wood, plant fiber, whatever (after reducing particle size, so start with small particles) with bleach (NaOCl). After thorough washing, you'll have relatively pure cellulose. If you go to long, or too heavy with the bleach, you will lose yield. Start out dilute.

Also, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide will do it, too. Fractionally dilute to ppt the cellulose and keep the lignin/hemicellulose in solution.

Of course, high T (160 °C or so--melting point of the particular lignin type) in dilute H2SO4 in a stirred/rotating pressure reactor works, too. This can be modified via addition of organic solvents, as well. see COSLIF.

O3

Rynoaus - 18-3-2016 at 21:40

Quote: Originally posted by Ozone  
You can also treat the wood, plant fiber, whatever (after reducing particle size, so start with small particles) with bleach (NaOCl). After thorough washing, you'll have relatively pure cellulose. If you go to long, or too heavy with the bleach, you will lose yield. Start out dilute.

Also, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide will do it, too. Fractionally dilute to ppt the cellulose and keep the lignin/hemicellulose in solution.

Of course, high T (160 °C or so--melting point of the particular lignin type) in dilute H2SO4 in a stirred/rotating pressure reactor works, too. This can be modified via addition of organic solvents, as well. see COSLIF.

Awesome thanks I'll start trying these I have ground the material fairly fine so I'll try your suggestions
O3

Joe Skulan - 19-3-2016 at 09:23

Maybe not what you need, but "white rot" is caused by fungi that selectively consume lignin in wood, leaving more or less pure cellulose. It's easy to find logs completely consumed by white rot in the woods.

Camroc37 - 19-3-2016 at 10:08

Quote: Originally posted by Rynoaus  
Hi can anyone suggest a way to extract cellulose from wood at home. For eg one patent basically starts with an acid treatment of the feed stock then progressive alkaline washings to remove lignins with a boiling step and also bleaching step. I really just need crude cellulose it doesn't need to be white. So if I was to keep doing alkaline extractions I should end up with the product I need or not. Maybe soak in Sodium hydroxide solution allow to "leach" then filter, wash with h2o filter and repeat? Is the boiling step very important to help break the wood and if you didn't boil it would it just take longer to break down the wood. Just looking for a very simple process I've been trying variations of the above without much success. Am I on the wrong track? Cheers

The only thing I know about extracting a cellulose compound: Nitrocellulose is soluble in an ether and alcohol mix. Hopefully this did something for someone.

mayko - 24-3-2016 at 08:37

Quote: Originally posted by Joe Skulan  
Maybe not what you need, but "white rot" is caused by fungi that selectively consume lignin in wood, leaving more or less pure cellulose. It's easy to find logs completely consumed by white rot in the woods.


In fact, the evolution of delignifying fungi has been suggested as an explanation for the end of the Carboniferous coal deposits:
Quote:

Wood is a major pool of organic carbon that is highly resistant to decay, owing largely to the presence of lignin. The only organisms capable of substantial lignin decay are white rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes, which also contains non–lignin-degrading brown rot and ectomycorrhizal species. Comparative analyses of 31 fungal genomes (12 generated for this study) suggest that lignin-degrading peroxidases expanded in the lineage leading to the ancestor of the Agaricomycetes, which is reconstructed as a white rot species, and then contracted in parallel lineages leading to brown rot and mycorrhizal species. Molecular clock analyses suggest that the origin of lignin degradation might have coincided with the sharp decrease in the rate of organic carbon burial around the end of the Carboniferous period.



Floudas, D., Binder, M., Riley, R., Barry, K., Blanchette, R. a, Henrissat, B., … Hibbett, D. S. (2012). The Paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes. Science (New York, N.Y.), 336(6089), 1715–9. doi:10.1126/science.1221748

gatosgr - 28-3-2016 at 03:57

Some people use deep eutectic solvent for extracting cellulose.

Rynoaus - 31-3-2016 at 15:34

Thanks all for your suggestions I'm deep in research I'd like to follow the industrial process approximately but I'll have to see how it goes. The fungi information is quite interesting but not quite industrial and thanks for the link in solvents I'll have a read.

Bean - 7-4-2016 at 09:10

Use tetraaminecopper II hydroxide to extract it. Create it by reacting ammonia solution and copper hydroxide until a deep blue solution is formed. Then add your cellulose sample and stir. Now pour the cellulose solution into a dilute solution of sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, this will precipitate cellulose

Bean - 7-4-2016 at 09:10

Use tetraaminecopper II hydroxide to extract it. Create it by reacting ammonia solution and copper hydroxide until a deep blue solution is formed. Then add your cellulose sample and stir. Now pour the cellulose solution into a dilute solution of sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, this will precipitate cellulose