VATIS UPDATE Article

A team of researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, has developed an efficient, accurate and non-destructive way to detect the occurrence and purity of cellulose. The technique can be applied in mixtures of biopolymers, as well. “The ability to bottom-up assess and understand the lignocellulosic biomass composition is a key enabling technology in the emerging biorefinery sector,” said Ulrica Edlund, at KTH.

The problem with cellulose is that it is rarely found in a pure form. What’s more, the quality of isolated cellulose varies when industrial techniques are used to fractionate it, that is to deconstruct the matter and sort it out according to structural characteristics such molecular structure and molecular weight. Not being able to accurately assess the quality and purity is making recycling and manufacturing processes more difficult and less efficient.

This leads to unnecessary waste in recycling – which is costly and damaging to the environment. It also means that it is difficult to monitor the quality of the breakdown of cellulose to biogas. The researchers have synthesized a non-toxic molecule that can be easily applied to different forms of cellulose and provide a simple, optical readout of the quality. This could be used routinely and safely at any part of the cellulose-processing pipeline, giving multiple options for deployment and optimization.