Products
See also: dissolving pulp and pulp (paper)The Kraft process is used to separate cellulose from lignin, another major component of plant matter. Cellulose is the major constituent of paper, paperboard, and card stock and of textiles made from cotton, linen, and other plant fibers.
Cellulose can be converted into cellophane, a thin transparent film, and into rayon, an important fiber that has been used for textiles since the beginning of the 20th century. Both cellophane and rayon are known as "regenerated cellulose fibers"; they are identical to cellulose in chemical structure and are usually made from dissolving pulp via viscose. A more recent and environmentally friendly method to produce a form of rayon is the Lyocell process. Cellulose is the raw material in the manufacture of nitrocellulose (cellulose nitrate) which is used in smokeless gunpowder and as the base material for celluloid used for photographic and movie films until the mid 1930s.
Cellulose is used to make water-soluble adhesives and binders such as methyl cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose which are used in wallpaper paste. Microcrystalline cellulose (E460i) and powdered cellulose (E460ii) are used as inactive fillers in tablets and as thickeners and stabilizers in processed foods. Cellulose powder is for example used in Kraft's Parmesan cheese to prevent caking inside the tube.
Cellulose is used in the laboratory as the stationary phase for thin layer chromatography. Cellulose fibers are also used in liquid filtration, sometimes in combination with diatomaceous earth or other filtration media, to create a filter bed of inert material. Cellulose is further used to make hydrophilic and highly absorbent sponges.
Cellulose insulation made from recycled paper is becoming popular as an environmentally preferable material for building insulation. It can be treated with boric acid as a fire retardant.
Cellulose consists of crystalline and amorphous regions. By treating it with strong acid, the amorphous regions can be broken up, thereby producing nanocrystalline cellulose, a novel material with many desirable properties. Recently, nanocrystalline cellulose was used as the filler phase in bio-based polymer matrices to produce nanocomposites with superior thermal and mechanical properties.
Read more about this topic: Cellulose
Famous quotes containing the word products:
“Isn’t it odd that networks accept billions of dollars from advertisers to teach people to use products and then proclaim that children aren’t learning about violence from their steady diet of it on television!”
—Toni Liebman (20th century)
“The reality is that zero defects in products plus zero pollution plus zero risk on the job is equivalent to maximum growth of government plus zero economic growth plus runaway inflation.”
—Dixie Lee Ray (b. 1924)
“Good wine needs no bush,
And perhaps products that people really want need no
hard-sell or soft-sell TV push.
Why not?
Look at pot.”
—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)