Nanocellulose: From an agricultural waste to a valuable pharmaceutical ingredient.

Cellulose was and still is the most abundant biopolymer generated from all plant fibers including agricultural wastes. Using this waste as a starting material in the production of new products is a field of great interest. The demand for renewable and available resources in combination with advanced technologies is a necessity to develop new generations of advanced nanomaterials. This review aims to present integrated details on the extraction techniques and structure of nanofibrillated cellulose as well as cellulose nanocrystals derived from agricultural wastes besides the different treatment methods used to be suitable for several pharmaceutical applications. Different pharmaceutical applications are described, including controlled, sustained or rapid drug delivery, stabilizing agent, and its use as safe and sustained environment for cell culture allowing its use in tissue engineering field.