BC-Board - Rigid boards made from industrially produced bacterial cellulose

The desire for independence of petroleum promotes the development of novel biopolymers as future substitute for conventional polymer materials. Here, industrially produced bacterial cellulose was dewatered using an optimized thermo-compression process with a subsequent drying step, resulting in mechanically very stable boards with several millimeter thickness. The removal of impurities from the bacterial cellulose fermentation by moderate bleaching with NaClO and NaOH led to an exceptional flexural stiffness of 22 GPa and a flexural strength of 225 MPa. The uptake of moisture induced a reversible plasticization of the material with a decrease of flexural and tensile properties, still outperforming most conventional plastics. Moreover, the original mechanical properties were regained even after repetitive wetting and drying of the material. The mouldability into 3D shapes during dewatering and drying was demonstrated.