Systems and methods to produce treated cellulose filaments and thermoplastic composite materials comprising treated cellulose filaments

1. A method comprising:

mixing a feedstock comprising Cellulose Filaments in a water solution with a debonder to produce a mixed stream;

filtering the mixed stream to produce a filtered stream and a filtrate stream, the filtrate stream comprising at least a portion of the debonder; and

drying the filtered stream to produce treated Cellulose Filaments;

wherein the debonder is one of an alcohol, glycol ether, ester-containing quaternary ammonium salt, amido amine quaternary ammonium salt, disubstituted amide or a mixture thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein during mixing, the debonder adsorbs to a surface of the Cellulose Filaments in a manner such that the debonder physically blocks hydroxyl groups on the surface of the Cellulose Filaments from contacting adjacent Cellulose Filaments, thereby weakening the effects of hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl groups of adjacent Cellulose Filaments.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the Cellulose Filaments in the feedstock comprise individual fine threads unraveled or peeled from natural cellulose fibers having a fibrillar element width ranging from nanoscale (30 to 100 nm) to microscale (100 to 500 nm) and an aspect ratio of up to 5,000.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedstock has a solids content of 30% Cellulose Filaments by weight.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising, after mixing and before filtering, washing the mixed stream with a washing alcohol or organic solvent.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the debonder comprises one of an ester-containing quaternary ammonium salt, an amido amine quaternary ammonium salt and a disubstituted amide.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising recovering the debonder from the filtrate stream and recycling the debonder to the mixing stage.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising drying the filtered stream in two stages.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating the treated Cellulose Filaments and a thermoplastic polymer to produce a thermoplastic polymer-treated Cellulose Filaments composite material.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the composite material comprises 10 to 40% by weight treated Cellulose Filaments.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein associating comprises mixing the treated Cellulose Filaments and the thermoplastic polymer to form a mixture and extruding the mixture.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the thermoplastic polymer is one of a polyolefin, polyurethane (PU), polypropylene (PP), polyester (PE), polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polyamide (PA), and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or a mixture.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the polyolefin comprises a polyethylene and wherein the polyethylene comprises low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), maleated thermoplastic starch (mTPS) in LLDPE and/or high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the thermoplastic polymer is PA and the composite material comprises 30% by weight treated Cellulose Filaments.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the composite material has a Young's Modulus gain of 181% compared to the thermoplastic polymer alone.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the composite material has a tensile stress gain of 73% compared to the thermoplastic polymer alone.

17. A system to produce treated Cellulose Filaments, the system comprising:

a mixing stage for mixing a feedstock comprising Cellulose Filaments in a water solution with a debonder to produce a mixed stream;

a filtering stage for filtering the mixed stream to produce a filtered stream and a filtrate stream, the filtrate stream comprising at least a portion of the debonder; and

a drying stage for drying the filtered stream to produce the treated Cellulose Filaments;

wherein the debonder is one of an alcohol, glycol ether, ester-containing quaternary ammonium salt, amido amine quaternary ammonium salt, disubstituted amide or a mixture thereof.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein during the mixing stage the debonder adsorbs to a surface of the Cellulose Filaments in a manner such that the debonder physically blocks the hydroxyl groups on the surface of the Cellulose Filaments from contacting adjacent Cellulose Filaments, thereby weakening the effects of hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl groups of adjacent Cellulose Filaments.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the mixing stage includes a mixing vessel comprising a planetary mixer or a continuous high consistency pulp mixer.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the mixing stage and filtering stage are combined such that the mixing vessel is configured with a filter providing the filtering stage.

21. The system of claim 17 , wherein the filtering stage comprises one of a Nutsche filter and a Buchner filter.

22. The system of claim 17 , wherein the drying stage comprises one of a vacuum drying chamber, a convection oven and a Nutsche filter.

23. The system of claim 17 configured to add a washing alcohol or organic solvent to the mixed stream to wash the Cellulose Filaments of the mixed stream prior to filtering by the filtering stage.

24. The system of claim 17 further comprising a recycling stage configured to recover the debonder and recycle the debonder to the mixing stage.

25. A Cellulose Filaments product comprising treated Cellulose Filaments, the product produced in accordance with a method comprising:

mixing a feedstock comprising Cellulose Filaments in a water solution with a debonder to produce a mixed stream;

filtering the mixed stream to produce a filtered stream and a filtrate stream, the filtrate stream comprising at least a portion of the debonder; and

drying the filtered stream to produce the treated Cellulose Filaments;

wherein the debonder is one of an alcohol, glycol ether, ester-containing quaternary ammonium salt, amido amine quaternary ammonium salt, disubstituted amide or a mixture thereof.

26. The Cellulose Filaments product of claim 25 wherein the product is a thermoplastic polymer-treated Cellulose Filaments composite material.

27. A method to produce a thermoplastic polymer-treated Cellulose Filaments composite material product comprising:

associating treated Cellulose Filaments with a thermopolymer to create a composite material;

wherein the treated Cellulose Filaments comprise Cellulose Filaments having individual fine threads unraveled or peeled from natural cellulose fibers having a fibrillar element width ranging from nanoscale (30 to 100 nm) to microscale (100 to 500 nm) and an aspect ratio of up to 5,000 and that have been treated with a debonder comprising one of an alcohol, glycol ether, ester-containing quaternary ammonium salt, amido amine quaternary ammonium salt, disubstituted amide or a mixture thereof.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the composite material comprises 10 to 40% by weight treated Cellulose Filaments.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein associating comprises mixing the treated Cellulose Filaments and the thermoplastic polymer to form a mixture and extruding the mixture.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the thermoplastic polymer is one of a polyolefin, polyurethane (PU), polypropylene (PP), polyester (PE), polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polyamide (PA), and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or a mixture.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the polyolefin comprises a polyethylene and wherein the polyethylene comprises low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), maleated thermoplastic starch (mTPS) in LLDPE and/or high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

32. The method of claim 30 , wherein the thermoplastic polymer is PA and the composite material comprises 30% by weight treated Cellulose Filaments.

33. The method of claim 30 , wherein the composite material has a Young's Modulus gain of 181% compared to the thermoplastic polymer alone.

34. The method of claim 30 , wherein the composite material has a tensile stress gain of 73% compared to the thermoplastic polymer alone.