Collaborative Research: Interfacial Phenomena of Functional Solutes Impregnated into Cellulose Packaging Substrates

合作研究：功能性溶质浸渍纤维素包装基材的界面现象

• 批准号: 2322501
• 负责人: Brenda Prager
• 金额: $ 25.26万
• 依托单位: University of Mississippi
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322501&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Interfacial; Phenomena; Functional

Packaging is essential to everyday life. It protects our food and medicine and facilitates the safe transport of goods across the country and around the world. Plastics-based packaging has become popular because it offers better barrier properties than traditional paper-based packaging, which helps preserve the quality and safety of packaged products. Despite the benefits of plastic packaging, the poor end-of-life characteristics and recycling challenges often lead to environmental pollution. This research project seeks to develop a sustainable and functional paper-based alternative to plastic packaging that can be manufactured using renewable feedstocks and green chemistry technologies. Bio-based compounds extracted from agricultural waste will be impregnated into paper to improve the material’s functionality and barrier properties. The molecular-level interactions between paper and bio-based compounds will be examined to develop a competitive and sustainable alternative to plastic packaging. To increase diversity in STEM fields and promote economic prosperity, this project will engage high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from backgrounds and groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. Additionally, outreach events will enhance public awareness of sustainable packaging practices.This project is jointly funded by the Interfacial Engineering program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The research aims to develop next-generation sustainable packaging materials, with favorable performance and end-of-life characteristics, by engineering cellulosic substrates with improved barrier properties. This will be accomplished using the supercritical impregnation (SCI) methodology, where supercritical carbon dioxide (ssCO2) is used to impregnate bioderived solutes into cellulose matrices. The fundamental interfacial phenomena governing solute adsorption onto the cellulosic fibers will be determined. Two model solute systems – aliphatic and aromatic - and cosolvents have been chosen to represent the chemical species derived from agricultural residues. The aliphatic solute system is expected to yield desirable hydrophobic properties for the packaging material, and the aromatic solute system is expected to impart UV-absorbent properties. The initial adsorption kinetics of the solutes onto the cellulosic fibers will be measured using state-of-the-art quartz crystal microbalance (QCM-D) instrumentation and modeled to quantify the impact of the process conditions influencing rate constants. In operando near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic studies will elucidate fundamental bonding and partitioning processes that facilitate SCI of paper substrates, including the hydrogen-bonding of interfacing cellulosic fibers, the influence of scCO2-cosolvent interactions on hydrogen-bonding, and the impact of scCO2-cosolvent-cellulose interactions on solute partitioning into cellulose. Lastly, relationships between solute diffusion mechanisms and the resultant distribution of solutes throughout cellulosic matrices will be evaluated via digital imaging analyses, with functional improvements assessed via contact angle and light transmittance measurements for the two systems, respectively. This research contributes to society in multiple ways, including developing sustainable packaging materials, advancing the potential of bioderived solutes as packaging additives, providing research opportunities for underrepresented students, and educating the community on sustainable packaging benefits through outreach events.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

包装对于日常生活至关重要，它可以保护我们的食品和药品，并促进全国和世界各地的安全运输。塑料包装已变得流行，因为它比传统的纸质包装具有更好的货物阻隔性能。保护包装产品的质量和安全尽管塑料包装具有诸多优点，但不良的报废特性和回收挑战往往会导致环境污染。该研究项目旨在开发一种可持续且功能性的纸质包装替代品。可以使用可再生原料和绿色化学来制造从农业废物中提取的生物基化合物将被浸渍到纸张中，以提高材料的功能和阻隔性能，并将研究纸张和生物基化合物之间的分子级相互作用，以开发塑料包装的有竞争力和可持续的替代品。为了增加 STEM 领域的多样性并促进经济繁荣，该项目将吸引来自 STEM 领域传统上代表性不足的背景和群体的高中生、本科生和研究生。此外，外展活动将提高公众对可持续包装实践的认识。由界面资助工程计划和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）旨在通过设计具有改进阻隔性能的纤维素基材来开发具有良好性能和报废特性的下一代可持续包装材料。使用超临界浸渍（SCI）方法，其中超临界二氧化碳（ssCO2）用于将生物来源的溶质浸渍到纤维素基质中控制溶质吸附到纤维素基质上的基本界面现象。将确定两种模型溶质系统（脂肪族和芳香族）和助溶剂来代表源自农业残留物的化学物质，脂肪族溶质系统预计将为包装材料和芳香族溶质带来所需的疏水性。预计该系统将具有紫外线吸收特性，将使用最先进的石英晶体来测量溶质在纤维素纤维上的初始吸附动力学。微量天平 (QCM-D) 仪器和建模以量化影响速率常数的工艺条件的影响，近红外 (NIR) 光谱研究将阐明促进纸张基材 SCI 的基本键合和分配过程，包括氢键。纤维素纤维界面的相互作用、scCO2-共溶剂相互作用对氢键的影响以及 scCO2-共溶剂-纤维素相互作用对溶质的影响最后，将通过数字成像分析评估溶质扩散机制与溶质在整个纤维素基质中的分布之间的关系，并分别通过两个系统的接触角和透光率测量来评估功能改进。以多种方式向社会做出贡献，包括开发可持续包装材料、提高生物源溶质作为包装添加剂的潜力、为代表性不足的学生提供研究机会，以及通过外展活动向社区宣传可持续包装的好处。该奖项反映了通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。