Data associated with 'Three methods to measure the dissolution activation energy of cellulosic fibres using time-temperature superposition'

This paper investigates the dissolution kinetics of cellulosic fibres in excess [C2mim][OAc] with three quantifying parameters based on optical microscopy images of dried cellulose samples and cellulose hydrogels. The dissolution process under different times and temperatures was analysed with time-temperature superposition and was found to follow Arrhenius behaviour, allowing an activation energy to be calculated. Three activation energy values were obtained from three different quantifying methods; these were found to agree, giving an average value of 73 ± 2 kJ/mol. We argue that our hydrogel method is an excellent choice for studying dissolution behaviour of cellulose. Additionally, a new method is developed to determine the shrinking ratio of different regions of the processed cellulose samples along with the different water volume fractions contained therein. The findings will be of interest to researchers making all cellulose composites and those studying the dissolution of cellulose by ionic liquids.