Page 356 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

10
Regenerated cellulosic fibers

Avinash P. Manian, Tung Pham, Thomas Bechtold
University of Innsbruck, Dornbirn, Austria

10.1 Introduction

A growing world population is expected to cause a commensurate increase in the
demand for cellulose fibers for clothing (Haemmerle, 2011). Because of the limits
on the availability of arable land, it is not possible for the higher demand to be met
by cotton fibers alone. Further, growing concerns about the environmental impact of
using nonbiodegradable synthetic polymers from nonrenewable resources are driving
a search for suitable alternatives. Cellulose occurs abundantly in the biomass, it is
biodegradable and unusable as food or feed. This makes it a very viable candidate
as a sustainable substitute for petroleum-based polymers. For both these reasons, the
significance of artificial or “regenerated” cellulosic fibers is expected to grow in
both textile and technical areas of application (LENZING Corporation, 2017).

10.2 Manufacturing processes

An overview of the history and development of cellulose fiber regeneration processes is
available in Ref. Woodings (2001) and is briefly summarized here. The first successful
attempt at producing regenerated cellulose fibers was in 1855 through the dissolution of
cellulose nitrate in alcohol and ether, by George Audemars, but the fibers obtained were
highly flammable. Joseph Swan and the Comte de Chardonnet independently devel-
oped processes to denitrate the fibers; Joseph Swan did not pursue the textile potential
of his fibers, and Chardonnet went on to set up the first factory to produce artificial
cellulosic fibers in 1892 and his process of producing fibers was in operation until 1949.
In 1857, Matthias Edward Schweizer discovered the solubility of cellulose in a so-
lution of copper salts with ammonia, but the first fibers were produced by Louis-Henri
Despeissis in 1890, and the first commercial process went operational in 1899.
In 1892, Charles Cross, Edward Bevan, and Clayton Beadle patented a process of
dissolving cellulose in sodium hydroxide after first reacting with carbon disulfide and
then regenerating the cellulose in dilute sulfuric acid. Their process was initially
applied in the paper industry and to produce molded materials until 1898, when
Charles Henry Stern patented a process of producing artificial cellulose fibers with
the process. From then, the technology spread through Europe and to the United States
and by 1910 the viscose technology began to be competitive against the nitrate and
cuprammonium technologies and eventually overtook them.

Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101272-7.00010-9
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