Abstract
Cellulose is the most abundant and renewable natural semi-crystalline polysaccharide. This biopolymer is an inexhaustible source of natural fibers (NFs), and valuable raw material for the production of microparticles of microcrystalline (MCC) and powdered cellulose (PC), as well as other cellulose micro-products, which are widely used in biomedicine, production of food additives, plastics, and other materials. In addition, cellulose has a nano-fibrillar architecture that promotes the release of free cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and nanocrystals (CNCs). This review article describes the preparation methods, structural characteristics, properties, and applications of different types of micro- (NFs, MCC, and PC) and nano-cellulose (CNFs, CNCs). Two main shortcomings hindering the wide application of various types of Nano cellulose (NC) were discovered, such as high production expenses and the difficulty of competing with commercial types of micro-cellulose. To reduce the production cost of NC, a waste-free technology can be used, which allows completely utilize materials and chemicals, and produce cheap nanocrystalline aggregates (NCA) with zero emission of liquid and solid waste. Due to the low cost, such a nanostructured product, NCA, will be quite competitive with commercial micro-celluloses (MCC, PC, etc.) and can be used, e.g., as filler and thickener.
Highlights
Cellulose is a natural, renewable, semi-crystalline polysaccharide that is the most abundant organic substance on Earth [1]
The consumption of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in the food market will grow due to the demand for frozen microwave-compatible, low fat, and healthy food products. This growth is driven by innovations in frozen food packaging, changing consumer perceptions of the nutritional benefits of frozen foods, developing advanced refrigeration technologies, and producing healthy frozen foods having a low content of salts and calories due to an increase in dietary cellulose supplements
It was found that the intensive mechanical treatment of 2% cellulose dispersion leads to a high increase in the surface area of forming cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), which causes the transformation of the liquid dispersion into a thick gel [43]
Summary
Renewable, semi-crystalline polysaccharide that is the most abundant organic substance on Earth [1]. In the 70s of the 20th century, Battista et al proposed a new cellulose product called microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), which is obtained by acid hydrolysis of the initial cellulose to the minimum level-off degree of polymerization (LODP) corresponding to DP of individual crystallites [10]. Despite 20-30 years of research and the huge number of publications, industrial technology, and industrial production at least one type of Nano cellulose has not been created, which requires an explanation. The main purpose of this review article was to describe the preparation methods, structural characteristics, properties, and uses of various types of micro-and nano-celluloses, as well as to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these cellulose products
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