HIGHLY CHARGE GROUP-MODIFIED CELLULOSE FIBERS WHICH CAN BE MADE INTO CELLULOSE NANOSTRUCTURES OR SUPER-ABSORBING CELLULOSIC MATERIALS AND METHOD OF MAKING THEM

摘要

The invention relates to highly charge group modified cellulose fibers which can be directly used as novel strengthening agent in papermaking, or as super-absorbent cellulosic material, or very easily made into cellulose nanostructures, such as nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), and the method of making them, which consists on providing a raw material cellulose, producing dialdehyde cellulose in a first chemical process with an improved protocol and converting the aldehyde groups into charge groups in a second chemical process. The surface charge concentration of the highly charge group modified cellulose products, including the cellulose nanostructures, can range from 0.1 to 11 mmol per gram of cellulose, and the cellulose nanostructures comprise an aspect ratio, defined as length over diameter, in a range from less than 10 to more than 1,000.