The effect of mixing and consistency on cellulose cationization

Traditional chemical modifications of cellulose are usually done at low or medium consistencies. Processing at high solids content is expected to provide a leap forward in reduction of manufacturing costs such as minimization of chemical use, energy consumption and decreasing processing equipment size, while at the same time increasing reaction efficiency. In this research, high consistency modifications of cellulose were studied through cationization reaction. Four different laboratory scale high consistency reactors were tested and the effect of mixing on fiber properties was analyzed. All reactors decreased cellulose fiber length and no significant difference between cellulose starting consistencies and mixing time on fiber properties were found. The cationization reaction efficiency increased as the cellulose starting consistency increased in all of the tested reactors. In addition, mercerization of pulp as pretreatment, significantly increased reaction efficiency.