Cellulose is an abundantly available natural resource utilized for cost effective manufacturing of cellulosic nanomaterials that exhibit great potential in a variety of industrial applications. Although cellulosic nanomaterial is cost effective to produce, it is not economical to ship long distance while containing significant water content (>95 wt.%). Therefore, a need has been identified by manufacturers to develop energy-efficient, dewatering or drying of cellulosic nanomaterials.

Accordingly, Faraday Technology in collaboration with GranBio USA, manufacturers of cellulosic nanomaterials, is addressing this need by developing an economical method and system, for electrochemical dewatering of cellulosic nanomaterials including cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). Innovative reactor designs are utilized to demonstrate the feasibility of an industrially viable and energy efficient ElectroDewatering approach capable of generating >50 wt.% final solid content for both CNC and CNF. The material properties were maintained through dewatering, and materials with ~25-30 wt.% final solids were successfully rehydrated and redispersed via vortexing. The pulse process approach reduced the energy use by at least 50% compared to thermal drying at similar dewatering performance. We have continued to improve our TRL by scaling the electrochemical dewatering system from sub-scale batch to alpha-scale continuous process. Specifically, this talk will discuss the results of these advancements.

Acknowledgements: The financial support of DOE Contract No. DE-SC0018787 is acknowledged.