Technological and economic barriers of industrial-scale production of nanocellulose

Abstract

Nanofibrillated cellulose and cellulose nanocrystals have revolutionized the field of biobased nanomaterials because of their unique characteristics such as specific surface, mechanical properties, optical properties, crystallinity, stiffness versatility, gelation, light weight, low toxicity, and biodegradability. Its potential applications involve paper making, paper packaging, membranes, absorbents, aerogels, hydrogels, nanocomposites, among others.However, in the development of these nanomaterials, there are concerns like its unsolved self-tendency to agglomeration, the limited scalability of the production methods, and the possible impacts on the environment and human health. Thus an intense investigation has been focused on these materials to make them potential candidates for the profitability of the industrial sector.Critical challenges should face achieving the industrial production and commercialization of nanocellulose, such as low-cost raw material, environmental-friendly manufacturing, higher production costs, economical drying of nanocellulose suspensions, easer redispersion, lack of international standardization along the supply chain, rapid and no expensive characterization methods in the production processes, lack of collaboration among potential producers and users, deficient coordination of efforts among government, industry, and academia, and the need for a relevant market pull. In this sense, with the right focus, sufficient resources, research, and development should be enough to achieve industrial-scale production with competitive production costs.This chapter analyzes the main technological and economic barriers to the commercial/industrial implementation of nanocellulose production in the framework of the papermaking industry and biorefinery.