Preparation of nanocellulose in high yield via chemi-mechanical synergy

Nanocellulose has gained increasing attention due to its excellent properties and wide application prospect. However, fast and low-waste preparation of nanocellulose is still challenging. Here, a time-saving and low-cost chemi-mechanical method was proposed to prepare cellulose nanocrystals (D-CNCs) and cellulose nanofibers (D-CNFs) by dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis and the homogenization of the un-hydrolyzed cellulose residues, respectively. After hydrolyzed by 0.3 wt% sulfuric acid at 160 °C for 2 h, the diameter and length distribution of the obtained D-CNCs were 16 ∼ 45 nm and 150 ∼ 600 nm, respectively. The yield of D-CNCs and D-CNFs reached to 15.78 % and 69.11 %. The thermostability of D-CNCs was more superior to CNCs manufactured by 64 wt% sulfuric acid. In conclusion, this approach offers a promising strategy for high yield of nanocellulose due to its easy operation and low pollution.