Skip to main content
Log in

Drying and redispersion of plant cellulose nanofibers for industrial applications: a review

  • Review
  • Published:
Cellulose Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The broad range of applications of cellulose (CNFs) nanofibers derived from plant sources has promoted different strategies for their production and commercialization. Nevertheless, issues concerning its transportation have prompted different projects to achieve a redispersible and dehydrated product in order to allow a cost-effective and safe transport and processing of this material. In this work, different strategies to avoid hornification such as oven drying, freeze-drying, spray-drying and supercritical drying were reviewed in terms of the nanostructural properties and redispersion capability of the obtained product, analyzing the existent literature involving chemical modification of cellulose or additives. Oven drying was reported to have the highest agglomeration rate during dehydration and some of the redispersible products can be used in food and pharmaceutical products, while the structure of freeze-dried CNFs evidenced several morphologies depending on CNF concentration and the presence of charges or steric hindrances. Spray-drying and supercritical drying were the only methods that could not fulfil the aimed industrial requirements due to its agglomeration and cost-efficiency respectively. When considering strategies to keep nanostructural properties upon dehydration it is important to account for the final application of CNFs as some additives or chemical modifications are targeted to specific applications. Further research is still required to clarify if spray drying and supercritical drying are suitable for this nanomaterial, as different additives and drying parameters must be considered to adapt these techniques to industrial requirements

Graphic abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge funding received from the Research Center for Investigation and Development (CIDI) at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, they also thank the financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (the Agreement No. 14.613.21.0069, unique Project Identifier RFMEFI61317X0069). Finally, the authors would like to thank the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (Cyted Network).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Zuluaga.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Posada, P., Velásquez-Cock, J., Gómez-Hoyos, C. et al. Drying and redispersion of plant cellulose nanofibers for industrial applications: a review. Cellulose 27, 10649–10670 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03348-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03348-7

Keywords

Navigation