title: Correlation of chemical, structural and thermal properties of natural fibres for their sustainable exploitation.
abstract: The potential of lignocellulosic natural fibres as renewable resources for thermal conversion and material reinforcement is largely dependent on the correlation between their chemical composition, crystalline structure and thermal decomposition properties. Significant differences were observed in the chemical composition of cotton, flax, hemp, kenaf and jute natural fibres in terms of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content, which influence their morphology, thermal properties and pyrolysis product distribution. A suitable methodology to study the kinetics of the thermal decomposition process of lignocellulosic fibres is proposed combining different models (Friedman, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Criado and Coats-Redfern). Cellulose pyrolysis can be modelled with similar kinetic parameters for all the natural fibres whereas the kinetic parameters for hemicellulose pyrolysis show intrinsic differences that can be assigned to the heterogeneous hemicellulose sugar composition in each natural fibre. This study provides the ground to critically select the most promising fibres to be used either for biofuel or material applications.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Fibre and Polymer Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 56-58, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden; Instituto de Tecnología de Materiales (ITM), Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería del Diseño (ETSID), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia Camino de Vera s/n, E-46022 Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: rosana@kth.se.
authors.forename: Rosana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moriana
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Fibre and Polymer Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 56-58, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden; School of Biotechnology, Division of Glycoscience, Royal Institute of Technology, Albanova University Centre, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden; Wallenberg Wood Science Centre (WWSC), Teknikringen 56-58, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vilaplana
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Fibre and Polymer Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 56-58, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden; University of Skövde, Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sigbritt
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Tecnología de Materiales (ITM), Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería del Diseño (ETSID), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia Camino de Vera s/n, E-46022 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Amparo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribes
keywords: Cellulose; Crystalline content; Hemicellulose; Lignin; Natural fibres; Thermal properties