Manufacturing of High Performance Cellulose Fibres to Replace Glass fibres & Carbon Fibre Precursors

To reduce society's dependence on petroleum based non-renewable polymers, large scale utilization of naturally occurring, abundantly available polymers such as cellulose needs to be developed. One of the major challenges in large scale utilization of cellulose from biomass is dissolution and processing of cellulose to prepare downstream products such as high performance textile fibres. The Viscose method is the most common way to manufacture cellulose fibres; however, it is a complex, multistep process which involves use of very aggressive chemicals and requires a large volume of fresh water. In the 1970s, petroleum based synthetic polymer fibres such as polyester and nylon were commercialised and were proven to be more economical than producing cellulose fibres via the Viscose method. Hence, the production of cellulose fibres was reduced from over 1.3 million tons per year in 1973 to 0.4 million tons per year by 2008 (Source: International Rayon and Synthetic Fibres Committee).

To overcome this issue of processing of cellulose we are proposing to develop an environmentally benign method of manufacturing of high performance cellulose fibres using "Green Solvents". The proposed research will help develop sustainable and high performance cellulose fibres which can in-principle replace heavy glass fibres (which requires high energy during its manufacturing) and non-renewable polymer precursors used for manufacturing of carbon fibres which are widely used in composites for aerospace, auto, sports and wind energy industries in UK and abroad.

The proposed work will have wide economic impact on industries ranging from biomass suppliers and processors, manufacturers of ionic liquids for biomass processing, polymer fibre spinning industry, carbon fibre manufacturing industry, polymer composite industry as well as consumers interested in development of sustainable products for auto and other industrial sectors. To achieve this impact, we are collaborating with number of industrial partners (Fibre Extrusion Tech, ValueForm Ltd, Composites Evolution ltd, SHD Composite Materials Ltd, Haydale Ltd), advanced manufacturing CATAPULT partners such as the National Composite Centre, Centre for Process Innovation and research institutions (NIST, USA, Centre for Renewable Carbon, Institute for Textile Chemistry and Chemical Fibres, Bio renewables and Environmental Change Division, Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University) and public engagement centres such as Reach-out Labs in Imperial College and Centre for Public Engagement at Bristol. The representatives from the industrial as well as the research institutes will participate in our industrial advisory board to help us on pathways to commercialisation and to achieve maximum research as well as industrial/economic impact. We will conduct regular industrial advisory board meetings to ensure the engagement and communication across all our industrial and research partners. We will also organise yearly workshop at Bristol to showcase major achievements of the proposed research work and get feedback from our partners to ensure maximum industrial/economic impact.

To ensure engagement with the general public and especially school children, we are working with the Reach-Out-Lab in Imperial College and the Centre for Public Engagement at University of Bristol. As a part of the school engagement activities, we will organise specific lectures for school students on cellulose fibres and bio-composites. We will also hold a workshop on the same topic to engage number of schools around Bristol and London with the help of Reach-Out-Lab (Imperial Collage) and the Centre for Public Engagement at University of Bristol.