Rengo Co., Ltd. has applied cellulose production technology to develop Xanthated Cellulose Nanofiber (XCNF®), a new cellulose nanofiber, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
Cellulose nanofiber is a fibrous substance made by microfiberizing cellulose in wood cellulose fiber to the nanometer level using chemical or mechanical processes. It is said to have one fifth the weight of steel but five times its strength. Cellulose nanofiber has drawn a great deal of attention in recent years as a next-generation material that can be applied to various purposes, such as reducing the weight of automobiles.
Rengo focused on the production technology of cellophane manufactured at its Takefu plant, independently developing a technology using the intermediate product, cellulose xanthate, to produce cellulose nanofiber. XCNF has xanthate groups in its cellulose molecules, but it is possible to remove these groups with simple processing to convert XCNF into cellulose nanofiber such as that made from pure cellulose.
