A Review on Preparation and Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystal-Incorporated Natural Biopolymer

The emergence of green clean technology has escalated the use of eco-friendly biopolymer by substituting petroleum-derived polymers. Over the years, natural biopolymers’ properties have been evaluated to check their applicability in food packaging industries. However, most of the biopolymers show poor barrier and mechanical properties compared to petroleum-derived polymers. Recently, cellulose nanocrystal has acquired attention of the researchers as potential prospective filler, which can overcome the drawbacks of biopolymer films. The basic advantages of cellulose nanocrystal are its high strength and stiffness, high surface area, biodegradability, etc. Therefore, lignocellulosic biomass, animal, and bacterial cellulose have been used as feedstock of cellulose nanocrystal, and then incorporated into the biopolymer films. This review provides detailed procedure of cellulose nanocrystal extraction in a stepwise manner and discusses the changes in film properties after reinforcement into different biopolymers.