2.4. Manton–Gaulin treatment
Purified and bleached cellulosic residue was dispersed in water at a concentration between 1% and 1.5% and disrupted in a Waring blender operated at full speed for 5 min. The slurry, which had reached a temperature of 60 C, was immediately treated with a laboratory scale Manton–Gaulin homogenizer 15MR-8TBA (APV Gaulin Inc., Wilmington, Mass). Fifteen passes were applied at a pressure of 500 bars, and the temperature was kept below 95 C to avoid cavitations. The resulting creamy suspensions were freeze–dried for further use.