This document discusses cellulose-based biocomposites. It defines biocomposites as materials composed of two or more distinct materials, one being naturally derived. Cellulose biocomposites are made from a cellulose polymer matrix reinforced with natural fibers. The document discusses the structure and properties of cellulose, as well as methods for preparing cellulose biocomposites, such as injection molding and compression molding. Potential applications of cellulose biocomposites are also mentioned, including use in packaging, biomedical products, and electronics.

1. Cellulose based Biocomposites
By
Muhammad Zubair
Class : M.Sc 4th
Roll No. 9310
Department of Applied Chemistry
Government college university Faisalbad

2. What is Biocomposites?
 A biocomposite is a material composed of two or more distinct
constituent materials (one being naturally derived) which are
combined to yield a new material with improved performance over
individual constituent materials.
 Biocomposites or “Green” composites are fully degradable
composites that are made up of biopolymer matrix and natural fibres
as reinforcing phase.

3. Need of Biocomposites
 To reduce depletion of petroleum reserves
 To reduce environmental pollution
 To utilise the agricultural waste
 To help attain sustainable development

4. Cellulose
 Majority of cell walls in plant consist of cellulose,hemicellulose and
lignin.
 Two major component of plant cell wall i.e. cellulose and
hemicellulose represents about 35-50% and 20-35% of dry weight of
ligocellulosic biomass respectively
 Cellulose is a sustainable, abundant and naturally occurring
biopolymer derived from biomass.

5. Structure of plant cell consisted of cellulose,hemicellulose and lignin

6. Cellulose
 It is the main structural constituent of plants and regaining
importance as a renewable chemical resource to replace petroleum
based materials.
 The annual production of cellulose is estimated to be over 7.5 ×1010
tons.
 However,of this only about 6×109 tones are processed by
paper,textile,material and chemical industries.

7. Structure of Cellulose
 Cellulose consist of a linear
polysaccharide composed of β-D-
glucopyranose units linked
together by β-1-4-linkages.The
repeating unit is a dimer of
glucose known as cellubiose.
 There are strong intramolecular or
intermolecular hydrogen bonding
between adjascent glucose units in
the same chain or different chain
through the open hydroxyl groups
present in glucose monomer units.

8. What is Nanocellulose?
 The term ‘nanocellulose’ generally refers to cellulosic
materials having at least one dimension in the nanometer
range.
 Nanocellulose can be extracted from various cellulosic
resources, including high plants, crop residues and bacterial
sources.
 Nanocellulose materials can be mainly of three types -nano
-fibrillated cellulose (NFC), cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)
and bacterial nanocellulose(BNC).

9. Cellulose Biocomposite preparation method
Thera are various methods used for cellulose biocomposites preparation.
Injection molding
 In this short fibers and resin granules are fed into heated large
container or barrel and transferred through the spindle to the mould
cavity,the product obtained is having complex structures and
excellent dimensional accuracy with surface finish.
 It is used for manufacturing of small and large products such as
household products and automotive parts.
 It has low labour cast and high production rate.

10. Compression molding
 In this semi-finisshed composite sheat or sheat molding compound is
compression moulded using a rolling resin film and fibers are added
on to it,
 Later another resin film is placed over it to get final product.
 Due to very high productivity,the short cycle times and
reproducibility it is more benficial .

11. Fig.Different methods for cellulose fiber-reinforced biocomposite
processings

12. Applications of cellulose biocomposites
 Cellulose based
bionanocomposites have several
applications in various
industries.
 The potential application of
nanocellulose and its
biocomposites are widely
adopted by paper and packaging
industries.

13. Packaging industry
 Globally, there is an increasing interest in packaging with renew-able
and environmental-safe materials as alternative for non-biode-
gradable synthetic polymers.
 An active packing with anti-microbial properties (to prolong the
shelf life and reduce the growth rate of certain microorganisms, in
particular foods and drinks) gets a great deal of consumer attention.
 Biocomposite films based on cellulose fibres and alginate have high
potential to be used as high strength packaging materials.

14. Biomedical
 Biocomposites of cellulose can be used for different biomedical
applications such as tissue engineering,bone repair,gene delivery
applications.
 They also used in biosensors,immunological tests ,wound dressing
and drug delivery devices.

15. Electronics industry
 Nanocellulose composites films can also be used in electronics
industry due to its conductivity and flexibility.
 Polyaniline nanocellulose composite films are mostly reviewed for
various end uses in electronic fields such as paper based
sensors,flexible electrode,electronic devices and conducting
adhesives.