Non-Wooden Cellulose Materials Sourced From Plant Wastes

Abstract

Cellulose is the most abundant plant waste material, making it a strong candidate to replace petroleum products as a future polymer material. Since cellulose is also abundant in food wastes, upcycling technology to obtain functional materials from these wastes is reviewed from the perspective of resource recycling. Cellulose, which is particularly difficult to handle as a material, has the property of being insoluble in solvents due to its strong cohesive nature. For this reason, recycled cellulose also is discussed as regenerative celluloses. However, compared to these chemically modified celluloses, the utilization of biomass cellulose fibers obtained from plant waste, which are a less scientific process and inexhaustible, enable to contribute to a sustainable society. The current status and technology of unmodified cellulose fibers is presented.Especially, the properties of cellulose hydrogels, which are agglomerated cellulose, and films are introduced in this chapter.