Carboxymethyl Cellulose Produced at Different Mercerization Conditions and Characterized by NIR FT Raman Spectroscopy in Combination with Multivariate Analytical Methods

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is produced commercially in a two-stage process consisting of a mercerization stage followed by an etherification stage. In this work, extended mercerization stages were used when producing CMC from a spruce dissolving pulp. Near infra-red (NIR) Fourier transform (FT) Raman spectroscopy was used to analyse the molecular structures of the CMC and the gel fractions formed in the CMC preparation. Three different CMC groups were obtained, representing backbone structures of cellulose I, cellulose II, and amorphous cellulose. By applying principal component analyses (PCA) to the spectral data, two CMC classes were identified with different degrees of substitution (DS). Thus, a low degree of substitution was obtained in the CMC if the alkaline concentration in the mercerization stage was only 9.0%, and the backbone structure was cellulose I or II. However, if the alkaline concentration was higher (18.25% or 27.5%), then the degree of substitution in the CMC was also higher, and the backbone structure was more amorphous.