What are the applications of natural cellulose powder and protein powder?
There is a waste problem of natural cellulose and natural protein in the textile industry, agriculture, papermaking and other fields. Natural cellulose and natural protein that have been processed many times cannot degrade by themselves and will cause serious environmental pollution. Therefore, how to efficiently recycle and utilize them Waste natural fiber materials have become a research hotspot. Usually when a material is processed into powder, its properties will undergo a series of changes, such as specific surface area, surface energy, surface activity, surface and interface properties, and crystallinity.
Application of natural cellulose powder
(1) Medical applications
As a new biomedical material, cellulose powder not only acts as a natural barrier to prevent allergens from combining with the nasal mucosa, but can also reduce allergic symptoms in children who are sensitive to insects; because it is a natural cellulose powder, it can be used by pregnant women and special groups. use.
(2) Applications in food and packaging materials
Most of the current food packaging materials are non-degradable, and degradable food packaging bags can greatly alleviate environmental pollution problems. Cellulose is non-toxic and a renewable resource. It is a good material for making degradable food packaging bags.
(3) Application of flame retardant materials
Using natural cellulose powder to replace the carbon source pentaerythritol in the traditional intumescent flame retardant system not only changes the shortcomings of the large amount of carbon source and poor compatibility in the traditional intumescent flame retardant system, but also increases the number of intumescent carbon layers and reduces the flame retardancy.
(4) Applications in sensing materials
Nano-zinc oxide (ZnO) ultraviolet (UV) sensors can be produced using a simple and low-cost two-step chemical method, so they have attracted much attention from researchers. Studies have found that the UV sensing activity of nano-ZnO can be significantly enhanced by synthesis with cellulose polymers.
Application of natural protein powder
(1) Applications in biomedical materials
Protein powder is widely used in biomedical materials due to its good biodegradation and biocompatibility. Using silk fibroin powder and polyacrylamide to make new hydrogels can improve the mechanical properties of the hydrogel, making it adhesive and self-healing. It has broad application prospects in wound dressings and transparent artificial skin. Protein powder also has great application potential in the development of small-diameter textile-based artificial blood vessels.
(2) Applications in composite materials
Mixing natural protein powder with other polymer materials to prepare new natural polymer materials can improve processing performance, etc., and provides a new direction for manufacturing natural-synthetic composite polymer materials. Natural protein powder, graphene oxide and catalyst nickel are used as raw materials to make conductive composite materials.
(3) Application of additives
Protein powder is added to coatings as a breathable agent and applied to clothing to improve its breathability. The biggest disadvantage of coatings applied to fabrics is poor air permeability. Adding silk fibroin protein powder to protective coatings that prevent thermal radiation improves the permeability of protective clothing to water vapor and air, and provides improvements to fabrics after coating.
Cellulose powder and protein powder with good application prospects are obtained from waste fabrics, agricultural waste and other waste materials, realizing the environmental protection concept of waste recycling. The biodegradability and biocompatibility of cellulose powder and protein powder are Capacitive is also widely used in medicine and materials, but the preparation efficiency of cellulose powder and protein powder is low, and the common preparation method of cellulose requires a large number of chemical reagents, and the degree of reaction is difficult to control; Preparation method of protein powder Traditional drying methods have low yields, and centrifugal separation from solvents is prone to agglomeration. Based on these problems, more efficient and low-energy consumption preparation methods should be innovated according to their own characteristics. With the continuous research on renewable natural protein powder and natural cellulose powder, more new application fields are developed, such as cosmetics and coatings. In the near future, natural protein powder and natural cellulose powder will create greater value.