Yokogawa Bio Frontier commences sale of high-performance nanocellulose material "S-CNF"

Yokogawa Bio Frontier (Musashino City, Tokyo), a subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, announced that it has commenced sales of 100% plant-derived organosulfated cellulose nanofiber "S-CNF." The company initially began providing samples of the product and will upscale production for commercial sale in the future, mainly for users in the chemical and materials industries.

Cellulose nanofiber is a fibrous biomass material made by processing cellulose, the main component of plants. It is produced by finely breaking down the cellulose extracted from materials such as lumber. Cellulose nanofiber has been attracting the attention of many companies, mainly in the materials industry, owing to characteristics such as low environmental impact related to its production and disposal, light weight and high strength, small thermal deformation, and highly effective barrier against oxygen and other gases.

Aside from these characteristics of cellulose nanofiber, "S-CNF" in its gel form can be dried to obtain a powder and its physical properties can be restored by adding water. This means that production in powdered form, which has about 1/100th the volume and weight of the gel form, can reduce the cost of transportation and storage. Due to this property, the mixing ratio with water can be freely adjusted, allowing the properties of the material to be flexibly altered to suit specific applications. Furthermore, the energy required for breaking down fibers was estimated to be lower for "S-CNF" than for general cellulose nanofibers, and this is expected to make a significant contribution in reducing production costs.

Yokogawa Bio Frontier will work toward the commercial production of "S-CNF," aiming to develop its business through the sales of its product and the licensing of its commercial production, mainly for users in the chemical and materials industries.