Nippon Paper Industries to Build New Verification and Production Facilities for Cellulose Nanofibers
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Nippon Paper Industries Co., Japan, reports that it will build new verification and production facilities for cellulose nanofibers at its Iwakuni pulp mill in Japan. The cellulose nanofiber will use pulp as a raw material.
Cellulose nanofibers are materials obtained by breaking plant fibers (pulp) down to the nano-order level, several orders of magnitude smaller than a micron. They provide excellent features. The elasticity is as high as that of aramid fibers known for high intense fiber. They stretch well, similar to glass, as temperature changes. They provide high barrier performance to gas, including oxygen. Also, because they come from plant fibers, they are characterized by a low environmental footprint in production and disposal, as well as light weight. Cellulose nanofibers are expected to find many applications, such as reinforcements, thickeners, and gas barrier materials.
The new verification and production facility for cellulose nanofibers will have an annual production capacity of 30 or more metric tons, and will start production this October. The facilities will make it easy to disintegrate pulp by implementing prior treatment chemically.
The basic development for this has already been conducted in a project called "Research and Development of Nanodevices for Practical Utilization of Nanotechnology" at the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The new facilities will be Japan's first full-fledged facilities producing cellulose nanofibers by chemical treatment.
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