Gustafson, RickHaunreiter, Kurt2022-04-192022-04-192022Haunreiter_washington_0250E_23880.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/48514Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2022Low-density biomass resources such as Humulus lupulus are handicapped by high transportation costs due to widely distributed – low-density acreage and the need for densification of the biomass. Life Cycle Assessment aims to assess the impact of segregating the residual woody waste (co-product) of an agricultural crop, hops (Humulus lupulus) on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and on soil carbon sequestration. The growth in the Humulus lupulus L. or hops industry, a perennial species, driven by demand from brewers has had annual revenue growth of 11.3% since 2015 making it one of the fastest-growing agricultural commodities in the Pacific Northwest(PNW). The high carbohydrate content, 58%, is similar to other lignocellulosic materials suitable for bioenergy feedstocks. The fiber has morphological characteristics similar to hardwood with length and width centered around 0.85 mm and 16.5 μm, respectively. This fiber presents a sustainable multi-use commodity with excellent application in biobased products and paper-making. We demonstrate that the environmentally friendly ammonium persulfate is effective at producing similar surface chemistry in lignin-containing wood and non-wood fibers, hop bine, without pretreatment or adjustment of experimental conditions. As-prepared materials exhibited surface charge and crystallinity index ranging from 0.6 mmol/g to 1.4 mmol/g carboxylic acid and 72 to 88%, respectively. The morphological characteristics varied from 48 to 80 for the aspect ratio, from 2.7 to 4.5 nm for the diameter, and from 146 to 247 nm for the length. The response surface model developed in this research allows for designing nano cellulose with targeted surface charge, crystallinity and aspect ratio. Nanocellulose fibers (NFCs) were designed using this response surface model to evaluate NFC retention, as well as barrier and strength properties of NFC-reinforced paper. The results demonstrate that low-surface charge nanofiber reinforced paper exhibit reduced air permeability, high fiber retention, and higher tensile strength. We demonstrate that nano fibrillated cellulose, engineered with specific surface charge and aspect ratio, produced via green chemistry, is as effective at improving the physical properties and performance of paper, comparable to nanofibers produced through TEMPO-mediated oxidation.application/pdfen-USnoneammonium persulfatehop binenanocellulosenanofiberNanoscienceWood sciencesEnvironmental scienceForestryThesis