Jyoti Giri and Rameshwar Adhikari / BIBECHANA 9 (2013) 81-87 : BMHSS, p.81 (Online Publication: Nov.

, 2012)

BIBECHANA
A Multidisciplinary Journal of Science, Technology and Mathematics
ISSN 2091-0762 (online)
Journal homepage: http://nepjol.info/index.php/BIBECHANA

A Brief review on extraction of nanocellulose and its

application
Jyoti Giri 1, Rameshwar Adhikari 2,*
1
Department of Chemistry, Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
2
Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
* Corresponding author: E mail: [email protected]
Article history: Received 22 October, 2012; Accepted 7 November, 2012

Abstract
Cellulose is one of the most abundant renewable natural resources. With the advent of nanotechnology,
the interests of cellulose scientists have diverted towards the extraction of nanocellulose from various
plant sources and utilize them in technical applications. The reason behind the rapid progress in the
nanocellulose chemistry and engineering lies in the promising properties of the nanocellulose and the
products thereof. In fact, nanocelluloses combine the important properties of cellulose with amazing
features of nanoscale materials. With the perspective of potential of cellulosic materials production in
Nepal basically from agricultural wastes and uses in several applications such as in the preparation of
biomaterials, this paper reviews the current knowledge in research and development of nanocelluloses in
particular for biomedical applications. After the introduction to the chemical constitution and
microfibrillar arrangement of nanocellulose in the cellulose bundles together with other constituents, the
ways of preparation of nanocellulose and its functionalization approaches will be discussed. Finally, the
application of nanocellulose for preparing biomaterials scaffolds will be introduced

Keywords: Nanocellulose; tissue engineering; functionalization; biopolymer

1. Introduction

Cellulose is main lignocellulosic component of cell wall in plants along with hemicellulose, lignin, pectin,
wax and constitutes 25 -50% of the plants [1]. Cellulose can be replenished by photosynthesis and its
estimated biosynthesis is 1011 tons per year [2]. The simple molecular structure of cellulose is given in
Fig. 1.
CH2OH
6 CH2OH
CH2OH
O 5
H H O
H H O
OH
H H
O 1
OH H 4 O
OH H OH H OH H
H H
2
3
H OH
H OH OH
H
ß-D-Glucose n-2
Fig. 1: Structure of cellulose macromolecule.
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Cellulose is linear polymer of β-anhydroglucopyranoside with 1, 4 β-glycosidic linkage. The structure is

supported by the free secondary OH groups at C-2, C-3 position and primary OH group at C-6 position
[1,3,4]. Its general molecular formula is (C6H10O5)n and density is 1.50 g/cm3. About several hundred
to10 millions of glucose units condense to form a straight chain of a polysaccharide unit in the term of
cellulose nanofiber. The free OH groups in one polysaccharide thread have higher possibilities to form
hydrogen bonds with another thread. Therefore a number of nanofibers bind through intermolecular
hydrogen-bonding with each other to form microfibers and then to microscopic cellulose fibers. The
cellulose macromolecule assembled in semicrystalline filament is expressed in term of microfibers and
nanofibers. The OH groups are also the active sites for the chemical modifications [5].
Hemicellulose is amorphous polysaccharide which is a mixture of carbohydrates comprising 3- 6
membered units [1,6]. Lignin is complex dendridic network of phenyl propene which acts as binder in
cellulose fiber to give the exact morphology for plant cell wall [1,6]. Similarly pectin is
heteropolysaccharide of 1-4 linked galacturonic acid with methyl esters of different sugar units [1,6]. Wax
has various composition of esters obtained from fatty acids and long chain alcohols. e.g. rice bran wax,
soy wax etc. [2,6].
Cellulose occurs in 4 major polymorphic forms: cellulose I, II, III and IV. Cellulose fibrils are either man-
made (regenerated also called fibers) or natural. Cellulose with these two origins has predominantly
structures I and II2. In cellulose I crystal structure has parallel unit cell whereas in cellulose II unit cells of
crystals are antiparallel2. Cellulose III is obtained on treating cellulose I and II with ammonia. Likewise
cellulose IV can be prepared by heating cellulose III [7]. Although native Cellulose has I structure, it can
be converted into other forms by different treatments. Cellulose fibrils are partly crystalline with
cellulose Iα and Iβ. Cellulose Iα has a single chain triclinic structure and Iβ has two chain monoclinic
structures2. These special arrangements provide the cellulose nanofibers with remarkably interesting
mechanical properties [8].
Lignin, hemicellulose and wax matrix bind the cellulose fibers in plant cell wall. In a single fiber, a
number of threads like microfibrils are bound together which are called microfibers. Their size varies
from 10 to 40 µm in diameter depending upon the types of plants; see Table 1 [9].

Table 1: Average fiber dimensions of some cellulose raw materials [9].

Cellulose material Fiber length (µm) Fiber width (µm)

Spruce 3400 31
Pine 3100 25
Beech 1200 21
Eucalypt 850 20
Bamboo 2700 14
Cotton linters 9000 19
Wheat straw 1410 15
Baggage 1700 20

Each microfiber is a bundle of individual nanosize thread, called as nanofiber or nanofibril which consists
of a number of filamental cellulose chain passing through numerous crystallites in thread like fashion.
The elementary nanofibril has diameter of 3-15 nm and length with an average aspect ratio of 20-200
[10]. These nanofibrils contain ordered nanocrystallites and disordered amorphous domains placed in
definite intervals [11].
Cellulose fibers being most abundant, constantly replenished in nature by photosynthesis [2,12] and being
stronger than steel, glass fiber etc, has attracted new trends of development in material science [13,14].
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High mechanical strength, stiffness, large surface area and biodegradability are the properties often
referred to nanocellulose which make it as tempting raw material for new biobased composites. Around
1990, their strong hydrophilic nature, resistant to many chemicals, safety to life, reproducibility and
recyclability, brought nanocellulose in many intense applications compared to cellulose and
microcellulose [15]. Additionally the recent advances in nanocellulose supports medical fields in different
aspect as implant materials (artificial organs), biodegradable tissue scaffolds, drug delivery vehicles, etc.
Further nanofiber composites are used for making flexible circuits, solar panels and other electronics
devices. Many more applications in paints, pigment, inks, screens, coatings, packaging materials, optical
appliances, cosmetics etc. also make use of cellulosic materials [15,16].
The aim of this paper is to review the extraction methods of nanocellulose from renewable natural
resources and give an overview of various applications as novel biomaterials.

2. Extraction Micro- and Nanocellulose

With the beginning of civilization cellulose is being used for many purpose; such as for making clothes,
ropes, housing materials and paper from fiber. Time passed by and new ideas with novel developments
started. In late 1970s, Turbak, Snyder and Samberg introduced the new material microfibrillated (MFC)
and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) [17]. Cotton [11,12], ramie [11], jute [11,18], bamboo [19,22], sisal
[9], rice [19], starch [21] etc have been used to extract nanocellulose.
There are various procedures for the preparation of micro and nanofibrillated cellulose. Deshpande & co-
workers had extracted microfibrillated cellulose by compression and roller mechanical techniques and
blended with polyesters to prepare high strength composite materials [19]. Rajan & co-workers
microfibrillated bamboo fibers by chemical treatment with NaOCl / NaOH and acetic acid in an autoclave
which were then compounded with polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) matrix [22]. Similarly, Okubo, Fujii &
Yamashita extracted microfibers by steam explosion process and developed composites with polylactic
acid (PLA) matrix, whose bending, fracture properties were improved [18].
In nature even the waste materials could be of high value as they could be one of the sources for raw
material to isolate micro-nanocellulose. Sun & co-workes and Mandal & co-workers isolated cellulose
microfibers from the waste sugarcane dewaxed bagasse by chemical treatments followed by
ultasonication process and oxidation with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
[2,12].
Liu, Yuan & Bhattacharyya extracted suspension of nanocellulose fiber from flax yarns. Mercerized flax
yarns on acid treatment and neutralization with alkali yielded nanocellulose. The PLA composites with
these nanofibers showed significant increase in tensile strength and modulus whereas elongation at break
was decreased with fiber content [23]. Cherian & co-workers used pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) to extract
nanocellulose by chemical as well as mechanical process. Fibers on delignification, bleaching and steam
explosion gives nanocellulose width in the range of 5-60 nm [24]. Kukle & co-workers optimized the
percentage of NaOH, temperature, time and pressure for nanoscaled disintegration of hemp fibers after
steam explosion to isolate the nanocellulose [8]. Likewise, Luduena and co-workers obtained
nanocellulose from rice husk by chemical process [25].
In the survey it is found that there are many different methods for the extraction / preparations of
cellulose, cellulose micro and nanofibrils which can be summarized as chemical and mechanical
processes [13].

3. Chemical process
The chemical process comprises the treatment of raw cellulosic mass with required amount of alkali for
delignification, organosolvation (with acetic acid, aqueous methanol or ethanol), and acid treatment
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for the hydrolysis. Chemical process also involves oxidation with oxidizing agent hydrogen peroxide
(H2O2), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) for bleaching the coloured materials.

Fig. 2: SEM images of chemical treated hemp fiber: [a] Washed, [ b] delignified [10].

4. Mechanical process
Mechanical process can be carried out in different ways: roller mechanical technique, compression
mechanical technique, cryocrushing, sonication, homogenization and wet cooking process (steam
explosion).
4.1 Compression (CMT) and roller mechanical (RMT) techniques
In CMT delignified fibers of cellulosic materials are placed in a bed of stripes placed between the two
plates and subjected to a constant load of 10 tons for 10 seconds. In contrast, RMT delignified stripes are
forced between the two rollers, one of which is fixed while the other is rotating [3].

Fig. 3: SEM images of mechanical and chemical treated delignified hemp fiber for micro,
nanofibrillation: [a] steam exploded, [b] acid hydrolysed steam exploded fibers [8].

4.2 Homogenization
In this process fibers (either crude one or delignified ones) are passed through a valve at high pressure and
exposed to a pressure drop to atmospheric condition when the valve is released resulting in high shear
force on the fiber surface [3,21].
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4.3 Cryocrushing
The fibers are first frozen in liquid nitrogen. The embrittled glassy fibers are then subjected to high speed
crushing. The high shear and impact forces acting on the fibers turn them to powder comprising
microfibrils. The cryocrushed fibers may then be dispersed uniformly into water suspension using a
disintegrator [21].

4.4 Steam explosion

It is a thermomechanical process to breakdown the structural components of cellulose. The process is
accompanied with heat carried by steam. Steam at high pressure penetrates the lignocellulosic biomass
through diffusion. The sudden release of pressure generates shear force which hydrolyze the glycosidic
bond and hydrogen bonds between the glucose chains, leading to the formation of nanofibers [24].

Fig. 4: Scheme for nanofibers extraction from lignocellulosic materials using chemical and
mechanical treatments.
It is convenient method and common practice both chemical and mechanical processes to prepare
nanocellulose from lignocellulosic materials. The unified chemical /mechanical scheme is presented in
Fig. 4.
5. Applications

The nanofibers obtained have several potential applications in the field of electronics, used to prepare
flexible circuits, flexible solar panels, optical applications, etc [5]. For instance, the acetate functional
derivatives of sisal cellulose have been found to be applicable in textile (clothing and fabric), high
absorbency products (diapers, cigarette- filters and other filters), thermoplastic products (films and plastic
instruments), nourishing (food packaging), cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (extended capsule, tablet
release agents and encapsulating agents), medicinal (hypoallergenic surgical products) and others [16].
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Cellulose nanocrystals with defined dimension formulate the cellulose based nano composites for
different coating applications and in packaging materials. Cellulose bears high capacity to hold water, and
therefore has higher compatibility with human body. Thus nanocellulose can be used to fabricate tissue
scaffolds and implants, wound dressing, biocompatible coatings and drug release formulations.
6. Concluding Remarks
Nanocellulose is an interesting material with amazing properties and can be applied for many useful
purposes such as in textile industries, nanomedicine, food packaging, cosmetics and pharmacy. Other
potential applications are use as polymer nanocomposites in combination with other polymers, hydrogels
and technical materials. The research works envisioned in our laboratory are focusing on the extraction,
chemical modification and applications of nanocellulose especially in the preparation of composite
materials, biomedical and tissue engineering devices with the aid of electrospinning. In the frame of a
University Grants Commission (UGC) supported project, we are working to develop standard protocols to
extract the nanocellulose from some agricultural wastes and prepare useful devices for biomedical
applications.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the University Grants Commission (UGC), Nepal for providing us with
the Faculty Research Grant 2068/2069 (Project: Extraction of Micro- and Nanofibers from Renewable
Resources to Develop Completely Biodegradable Plastics Composites).

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