Continuous Production Process for Bacterial Cellulose Nanofiber Strips, Bundles, Yarns and Composites
- Detailed Technology Description
- A new process was developed that allows for the continuous production of bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers in the form of a strip, nanofiber bundle (untwisted) or multifiber yarn (twisted).
- Others
-
- *Abstract
-
A new process was developed that allows for the continuous production of bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers in the form of a strip, nanofiber bundle (untwisted) or multifiber yarn (twisted). The width of the strip or number of nanofibers can becontrolled by using an appropriate tube diameter, cross sectional shape and culturemedium level and/or culture time.
The process is conducted in a clean, controlledenvironment, to avoid contamination of the culture medium. This BC culture is carried out in air-circulated, specially-shaped glass tubes, which also act as a physical barrier during BC growth, enabling the production of much more aligned BC nanofibers (vs. randomlyoriented). Such increased parallelism of the fibers increases the mechanicalstrength and integrity of the end product. The continuous process and feed loop enable reduced production cost, allowing the use of BC in many common applications including apparel and medical supplies.
Potential Applications:
- Textiles, e.g. apparel, high quality paper, binding agents
- Tissue Engineering, e.g. artificial/temporary skin and blood vessels, tissue scaffolding
- Medical Supplies, e.g. sutures, wound bandages
- Ultrafiltration
- Loudspeaker diaphragms
- Fiber-reinforced composites
- Food Additives, e.g. thickeners, bulking agents, dietary fiber
BC Advantages:
- High purity
- High degree of polymerization
- High strength
- Nano size (50-70nm)
- Strong biological adaptability
- Reduced production cost
- *Licensing
- Martin Teschlmt439@cornell.edu(607) 254-4454
- Country/Region
- USA
