ORIGINAL PAPER Theoretical modeling of water vapor transport in cellulose-based materials Alemayehu H. Bedane . Mladen Eic ´ . Madjid Farmahini-Farahani . Huining Xiao Received: 30 January 2016 / Accepted: 20 March 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016 Abstract The theory of mass transport in porous media is of fundamental importance for different applications such as food, paper packaging, textiles, and wood for building materials. In this study, a theoretical water vapor transport model has been developed for cellulose-based materials, such as paper and regenerated cellulose film. Pore diffusivities were determined from the dynamic moisture breakthrough experiments comprising a stack of paper sheets and regenerated cellulose films in a configuration similar to a packed adsorption column. Other mass transfer parameters were determined from transient moisture uptake rate measurements. The model incorporates pore and surface diffusion as a lump parameter into a variable effective diffusion coefficient. The mass transport, involving both pore and surface diffusions, is evaluated independently. The theoretical water vapor transmission rates (WVTRs) obtained from the model were compared with experimentally deter- mined WVTRs measured under steady-state condi- tions. The theoretical model, based on intrinsic diffusion, stipulates higher WVTR values compared to the experimental results. However, the theoretical water vapor transfer rates agree well with the exper- imental results when external mass transfer resistance is incorporated in the model. Keywords Water vapor transport model  Pore and surface diffusion  Effective diffusivity  Mass transfer kinetics  Cellulose  Moisture content Introduction With the increasing environmental concern regarding non-biodegradability and lack of sustainability of synthetic-based materials, the use of materials derived from plant-based fibers and chemicals have been highly encouraged as potential replacements. Packag- ing materials are widely used to prevent foods and beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other consumer goods against physical, biochemical, and microbiological deterioration (Nair et al. 2014). However, cellulose-based packaging materials have limited application because they are poor barriers to water vapor compared to synthetic materials. The Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10570-016-0917-y) contains supple- mentary material, which is available to authorized users. A. H. Bedane  M. Eic ´(&)  M. Farmahini-Farahani  H. Xiao Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, 15 Dineen Drive, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada e-mail: meic@unb.ca A. H. Bedane e-mail: Alemayehu.Bedane@unb.ca M. Farmahini-Farahani e-mail: Madjid.Farahani@unb.ca H. Xiao e-mail: hxiao@unb.ca 123 Cellulose DOI 10.1007/s10570-016-0917-y