Return to search

Drying Behavior of Cellulose Fibers Characterized by Thermal Analysis

The objective of this research is to understand the drying behavior of cellulose fibers characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A parameter termed ?hard-to-remove (HR) water content? was defined as the ratio of water mass to fiber mass at the transition between the constant and falling rate drying zones of an isothermal TGA experiment. The HR water content showed a linear relationship with water retention value. TGA and DSC were used to explain the linear relationship. During drying, free water was observed to evaporate first, followed by trapped water, freezing bound water and then non-freezing bound water, with some overlap. Trapped water can be described as water bound to the fibers, but difficult to evaporate. For pilot papermachine samples, all the water in the wet web entering the dryer section was HR water, with no free water detected. Based on the results, a qualitative drying model of cellulose fibers was proposed with regard to decreasing moisture ratio. Changes in the pore size distribution during drying were determined using DSC measurements and the Gibbs-Thomson equation. Larger pores collapsed first followed by the sequential collapse of smaller pores, indicating that pore wall collapse resistance is critical. The average pore size for bleached softwood was calculated to be about 80 nm and decreased with drying. A constant pore size of about 20 nm was observed at moisture ratios below 0.3 g/g, which corresponds to one-to-two layers of non-freezing bound water. The heat of vaporization of water associated with cellulose fibers was determined using modulated DSC and showed a steep increase at moisture ratios below 0.3 g/g, indicating that a higher energy is required to evaporate non-freezing bound water.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-04282006-140641
Date08 May 2006
CreatorsPark, Sunkyu
ContributorsHasan Jameel, Richard Venditti
PublisherNCSU
Source SetsNorth Carolina State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04282006-140641/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

Page generated in 0.0026 seconds