MINERALIZATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND SELECTIVE DEGRADATION OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOCOMPOSITE MATERIALS
Semester Award Granted
Spring 2025
Submission Date
May 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Vivian Merk
Abstract
Developing novel functional materials, chemicals and biofuels from renewable plant sources has become a main area of focus within material science. The biosphere contains naturally occurring polymers that can be harvested to this end. Lignocellulosic materials are an important class of plant biomass consisting of three main components, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Wood has an inherent 3D hierarchical structure ranging from the nano- to bulk levels of organization, thereby achieving excellent mechanical properties while maintaining high porosity and low specific density. It carries significant promise for the production of chemicals, refinement of biofuels, and the development of novel functional materials. As lignocellulose is a complex anisotropic hierarchical structure differing distributions in functional chemicals or materials deposited within the scaffolding will result in a significant variance and impact in the properties and function of the final obtained composite. In this work, cell wall specific reinforcement was achieved through mineralization and confinement of nanocrystalline ferrihydrite (Fh) within the secondary wood cell wall. The distribution and mineralogy were characterized by an array of imaging and multiscale mechanical testing methods to accurately assess material property changes across all levels of organization. The functionality of the resulting biocomposites was assessed in a pilot study for the remediation of arsenate-contaminated groundwaters that proved effective under static and flow-through conditions. Chemical and enzymatic degradation treatments selectively targeting one of the three main wood polymers (cellulose, lignin) were utilized to investigate the degradation pathways and mechanical behavior of common chemical reactions used for biorefinery and chemical pulping. Overall, the studies detailed within this thesis contribute to a fundamental understanding of the structure-property-function relationship of chemically modified lignocellulose as a robust, renewable source of novel materials and biofuels.
Recommended Citation
Soini, Steven A., "MINERALIZATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND SELECTIVE DEGRADATION OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOCOMPOSITE MATERIALS" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 20.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/20