Zhu J Y, Agarwal Umesh P, Ciesielski Peter N, Himmel Michael E, Gao Runan, Deng Yulin, Morits Maria, Österberg Monika
USDA Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Dr, Madison, WI, USA.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA.
Biotechnol Biofuels. 2021 May 6;14(1):114. doi: 10.1186/s13068-021-01963-5.
Plant-biomass-based nanomaterials have attracted great interest recently for their potential to replace petroleum-sourced polymeric materials for sustained economic development. However, challenges associated with sustainable production of lignocellulosic nanoscale polymeric materials (NPMs) need to be addressed. Producing materials from lignocellulosic biomass is a value-added proposition compared with fuel-centric approach. This report focuses on recent progress made in understanding NPMs-specifically lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) and cellulosic nanomaterials (CNMs)-and their sustainable production. Special attention is focused on understanding key issues in nano-level deconstruction of cell walls and utilization of key properties of the resultant NPMs to allow flexibility in production to promote sustainability. Specifically, suitable processes for producing LNPs and their potential for scaled-up production, along with the resultant LNP properties and prospective applications, are discussed. In the case of CNMs, terminologies such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) used in the literature are examined. The term cellulose nano-whiskers (CNWs) is used here to describe a class of CNMs that has a morphology similar to CNCs but without specifying its crystallinity, because most applications of CNCs do not need its crystalline characteristic. Additionally, progress in enzymatic processing and drying of NPMs is also summarized. Finally, the report provides some perspective of future research that is likely to result in commercialization of plant-based NPMs.
基于植物生物质的纳米材料因其在可持续经济发展中替代石油基聚合物材料的潜力，近来备受关注。然而，与木质纤维素纳米级聚合物材料（NPMs）可持续生产相关的挑战仍需解决。与以燃料为核心的方法相比，用木质纤维素生物质生产材料是一个增值方案。本报告聚焦于在理解NPMs特别是木质素纳米颗粒（LNPs）和纤维素纳米材料（CNMs）及其可持续生产方面取得的最新进展。特别关注的是理解细胞壁纳米级解构中的关键问题，以及利用所得NPMs的关键特性，以在生产中实现灵活性，促进可持续性。具体而言，讨论了生产LNPs的合适工艺及其扩大生产的潜力，以及所得LNP的特性和预期应用。对于CNMs，研究了文献中使用的诸如纤维素纳米晶体（CNCs）和纤维素纳米纤维（CNFs）等术语。这里使用纤维素纳米须晶（CNWs）一词来描述一类形态与CNCs相似但未明确其结晶度的CNMs，因为CNCs的大多数应用并不需要其结晶特性。此外，还总结了NPMs酶促加工和干燥方面的进展。最后，本报告提供了一些未来研究的展望，这些研究可能会使基于植物的NPMs实现商业化。
