Easy way to prepare dispersible CNC dry powder by precipitation and conventional evaporation

Nanocellulose is a renewable material with excellent properties. At present, nanocellulose powder is mainly prepared by high-cost spray drying, which severely limits its output and quality. In this paper, we propose an innovative method to prepare dispersible nanocellulose powder by simple precipitation and conventional evaporation. Potassium acetate was added to CNC (a kind of nanocellulose) suspension to precipitate and purify CNC. The added potassium acetate was dissolved in ethanol and removed. Then dispersible nanocellulose powder can be obtained by simple evaporation. In CNC purification, we discussed the combination of different electrolytes and CNCs. It was found that although the monovalent electrolytes lead to weak aggregation with CNC, the resulting dry CNC powder had the best dispersion. In CNC drying, we discussed the effects of different dispersants and different drying methods on the forming of dry CNC powder. It is revealed that ethanol is the best dispersant tested in this paper because it can only form a single hydrogen bond with CNC and is easy to evaporate. In the evaporation of CNC and ethanol mixture, it will not lead to the aggregation of CNC fibers. It is hopeful that the new method may greatly reduce the cost of the preparation of nanocellulose powder.