Electro-dewatering of Cellulosic Nanomaterials

Renewable cellulosic nanomaterials exhibit great potential in various applications due to unique properties. Abundant availability of feedstock has led to industrialization of production. A significant cost-limiting factor to utilize cellulosic nanomaterials is dewatering/drying, “as cellulosic nanomaterials are not economical to ship long distances containing significant water content”. This represents a critical driver for increased costs of nanocellulose products. This program utilizes electrochemical based dewatering system and process to dewater cellulosic nanomaterials while maintaining material properties when dried and re-dispersed. This program will design, scale, and transition an electrochemical-based dewatering system and integrate with traditional drying technology to achieve low-cost and energy-efficient dewatering/drying of cellulosic nanomaterials. The projected environmental impact and energy costs of electro-dewatering and drying is considerably less than drying alone or traditional dewatering technologies plus drying for cellulosic nanomaterials. Developed and scaled an energy-efficient (70% reduction in energy requirements compared to thermal dewatering), environmentally beneficial (51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions), economical (31% reduction in cost/ton of dried material), and industrially viable electrochemical based dewatering approach to process up to 2 tons/year of dried nanocellulose at alpha- scale. The approach is capable of achieving >50wt.% final solids and 18 wt.% final solids, that could be rehydrated under vortex and confirmed for re-dispersibility. Material properties (structure, particle size) were maintained by the dewatered cellulosic nanomaterials. Transition the Phase II alpha-scale apparatus to a beta-scale system to process at least 20 tons/year of dried cellulose, integrate with a drying process, and install this integrated system at commercial biorefinery facility. The Phase II alpha-scale system will be used to evaluate cellulosic materials from multiple manufacturers. Phase IIB will conclude with a design for a gamma-scale system with the potential to process 200+ tons/year of dried cellulosic materials. TEA/LCA from Phase II will be updated and transition strategies will be developed for future full-scale implementation in Phase III and beyond. Benefits from an electrochemical technology for dewatering cellulosic nanomaterials include: (1) development of renewable materials; (2) increasing nanocellulose use in applications such as oil, gas, wastewater treatment; (3) reductions in cost and energy consumption; (4) progress toward sustainability. Innovation in nanocellulose separations will be beneficial for traditional industries such as paper production. A low-cost integrated solids separation method would have a broad applicability to markets such as water purification, food processing, coal fines, chemical production.