Enhanced production of sugars and UV-shielded lignin/PAN fiber mats from chemi-mechanical pulps

This study investigated poplar pretreatments by chemi-mechanical pulping (CMP) under different beating degrees and alkali concentrations. The enzyme-mediated hydrolysis of pretreated poplar was enhanced by deacetylation and delignification. Meanwhile, the remaining lignin residues were used to produce lignin/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber mats by electrospinning. These mats exhibited excellent mechanical and UV-blocking performance when the lignin was obtained from pulps under milder alkali concentrations (5 g/L). 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (31P NMR) and two-dimensional heteronuclear single-quantum correlation nuclear magnetic resonance (2D HSQC NMR) data revealed that increasing the beating degree at low alkali concentration during the CMP process led to the cleavage of β-O-4' interunit linkages and re-condensation in lignin, releasing several phenolic groups. Lignin with more linear β-O-4' interunit linkages and lesser phenolic groups, obtained from treatment of CMP with lower alkali concentration (5 g/L) and beating degree (20°SR), resulted in the corresponding lignin/PAN fiber mats exhibiting better mechanical performance. Further, lignin, along with the increased phenolic-OH and COOH, and p-hydroxybenzoate (PB) units with a more extended conjugate structure, derived from CMP under lower alkali concentration (5 g/L) and higher beating degree (45°SR), led to a stronger ultraviolet (UV) absorption in the corresponding lignin/PAN mats. To summarize, this study reports a mild and low-pollution biomass pretreatment method (CMP) that can efficiently regulate the lignin structure and exhibit efficient anti-ultraviolet properties. The corresponding UV-blocking fiber mats can be potentially used as materials for wearable fabrics.