Chapter 10 - Conversion of waste biomass into nanocellulose and their applications as high-value product

Abstract

Cellulose is abundantly available polymer on our planet. It is majorly present in plants. It has great potential to be used as a source of energy and generate different high-value products useful to humankind. Waste biomass can be a better alternative for such purposes. The waste biomass accumulation can cause many problems to the environment; hence, they could be promisingly used for the application, which can reduce their burden to the environment. The use of cellulose in the form of nanocellulose will add the edge toward broader applications. Nanocelluloses are generally cellulose molecules with at least one dimension in nanometer scale. At nanoscale level they have unique properties. They can be prepared through biomass from agricultural, forestry, and animal waste. They can be obtained from these sources majorly through physical, chemical and biological pretreatment methods. Each of them has some advantages and limitations; however, combination of more than one pretreatment methods can generate nanocellulose with more efficiency. They have been researched for many applications, namely, nanocomposites, biomedical, and packaging. Therefore the present chapter is mainly focused these aspects mentioning the preparation and applications of nanocellulose from waste biomass.