Development Status of CNF Reinforced Plastics（cellenpia^® PLAS）

In recent years, heightened global environmental awareness has led to calls for the realization of a low-carbon, sustainable, recycling society. Nippon paper industries （NPI） have been studying cellulose nano fiber （CNF） as a new destination for cellulose resources derived from pulps used in paper. To date, NPI has been one of the first to introduce mass production facilities and put them into practical use in a TEMPO-oxidized CNF and a carboxymethyl CNF. As a further use of cellulose resources, NPI is expanding into the reinforced plastic’s business, where cellulose fibers are used as reinforcement material in plastics, and NPI is considering using them in structural material applications such as automotive components and construction materials. CNF-reinforced plastic is a material that can be utilized as a reinforcement, in which cellulose is finely fibrized to nano-levels and uniformly dispersed in the plastic. And it is actively being developed as a reinforcement material to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the weight of structural materials such as automotive components. Cellulose resources are also a renewable material and the use of this material can contribute to reducing the use of plastics and the amount of waste.<br>NPI have developed such CNF reinforced plastic using the pulp direct kneading method called Kyoto Process^® developed by Prof. Yano and his colleagues at Kyoto University, where the pulp is nano-fibrirated and dispersed the same when kneaded with resin. NPI installed demonstration equipment in 2017 to offer CNF reinforced plastic to companies that wanted them. In this report, I present some of the findings from our feasibility studies and report on the prospects for our projects.