INFLUENCE OF STEAM EXPLOSION ON THECRYSTALLINITY OF CELLULOSE FIBER

The aim of the present study is to compare the effect of different steam explosion treatments on crystallinity properties of a pure bleached cellulose. Steam explosion process is composed of two distinct stages: vapocracking and explosive decompression. The treatment intensities is determined by a severity factor, established by a correlation between temperature process and retention time. The results show that steam explosion treatment has an impact on the crystallinity properties of pure cellulose fiber. When the severity factor is below 5.2, an increase of the overall crystallinity of the samples is observed with the treatment intensities. For higher intensities, a significant thermal degradation of cellulose lead to an important change in substrate composition, which lead to a further decrease of cellulose crystallinity.