Abstract

Nanocellulose is an attractive emerging material for multiple applications due to its renewable nature, anisotropic shape, excellent mechanical properties and good biocompatibility, among others. Nanocellulose isolated from plant cell wall can be divided into two main categories: cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), which are different in morphology. CNC are commonly produced by acid hydrolysis of cellulosic fibers, and the literature reflects a lot of work in this area, where reported results vary widely in terms of yields, sizes and/or CNC characteristics. For this reason the objective of this work was the optimization of the processing parameters by using response surface methodology. The factors that varied during the process were the concentration of pulp and sulfuric acid, the hydrolysis time and temperature and the ultrasonic treatment time. Different chemical and morphology features were observed from the CNC conditions. Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Inductively coupled plasma (ICP), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) data were obtained from CNC to obtain information about the potential use of CNC produced.