Esterification of lignocellulosic biomass driven by dry ball-milling suffered from agglomeration of lignocellulosic matters during milling process. In this study, esterification of waste mulberry wood (MW) was carried out by wet ball-milling with water and tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) to prepare all-wood-plastic composites. Under the same condition, the esterification of MW by wet ball-milling with TBAF presented higher efficiency than that without TBAF which was attributed to catalytic function of F- ions meanwhile the binding of TBA+ to cellulose fibrils hindered the compaction of fibrillated fragments. Pre-ball-milling of MW for 4.0 h apparently promoted the esterification with succinic anhydride. All-wood-plastic composites prepared after 7.0 h succinoylation demonstrated prominent mechanical performance due to strong adhesion of fragments and matrix. This study is supposed to provide an environment-friendly method for efficient conversion of waste lignocellulosic biomass.
Keywords: Heterogeneous esterification; Lignocellulosic biomass; Mechanochemical reaction; Tetrabutylammonium fluoride; Wet ball-milling.
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