The present study focused on the preparation of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) from pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) leaves using chemical treatments followed by acid hydrolysis. Pineapple leaves could be used in medical applications such as drug delivery carriers. Advanced spectroscopy techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to analyze the physical, chemical, and morphological features of the isolated MCC and NCC; the results indicated the needle-shaped form of nanostructures with good purity and high crystallinity index of 75.00 and 76.38%, respectively. In addition, inhibition of the treated MRC-5 cells with all the samples revealed that the percentage of cell viability was less than 30%, which is an interesting finding given their role in the cytotoxicity effect of MCC and NCC. It appears that MCC and NCC derived from pineapple leaves have lower toxicity. As a result, the developed MCC and NCC can be used in pharmaceutical applications as a novel drug delivery system. Molecular docking was performed to understand the non-bonding interaction of cellulose with human acid-beta-glucosidase (β-Glc) (PDB: 1OGS). The docking result shows that cellulose unit docked within the active pocket of the enzyme by forming hydrogen bonds against ASN19, THR21, and VAL17 with distances of 2.18, 1.93, and 2.92 Å, respectively, with binding energy (−5.0 kcal/mol) resulting in close interaction of cellulose unit with the receptor.

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It has been shown that in the last decades nanotechnology plays a key role not only in science but more and more often in industry as well. Recent research has shown that agricultural waste is a possible feedstock to produce  nanocellulose  which can be used for different applications, such as a biosensor, semiconductor and reinforcing agent. The use of agro-waste as a precursor not only offers advantages for raw material costs, but also for the climate, low processing costs, availability and convenience. It also helps to address environmental issues, such as illness, foul odor and concerns with indoor use. Different processes, such as chemical treatment, mechanical treatment and chemo-mechanical treatment, have been used to extract nanocellulose from agro-waste. This article highlights the latest technologies used to acquire agro-waste nanocellulose, as well as existing advances in and applications of nanocellulose technologies.

In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was extracted from various types of local agricultural wastes. Four types of agricultural waste such as coconut coir, banana stem, sugarcane bagasse and pineapple leaves were collected, extracted and hydrolyzed into microcrystalline cellulose, using pre-treatment (alkaline and bleaching) and acid hydrolysis, respectively. The extracted MCC were analyzed and compared with those of commercially available MCC. The study of crystallinity behaviors of the obtained MCC was performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The XRD of MCC revealed that the crystallinity of pineapple leaves has the highest crystallinity index with 75% in value and closest compared to commercial MCC, 81.25%. The value of crystallinity index for banana stem is 74.55% followed by coconut coir, 72.73% and sugarcane bagasse, 66.50%. All of the MCC samples showed the similar pattern with the typical crystalline structure of cellulose I. The crystallite size of all MCC samples was calculated and found in the range of 4.04 – 5.14 nm. These extracted MCC that obtained from several agricultural wastes was supposed to have a high potential as value-added products in industrial applications.

In this work, chemically treated microcrystalline cellulose (MCC-C) was extracted from coconut husk fiber. In order to extract hemicellulose, the sieved coconut husk fiber was treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for dewaxing and acidified using sodium chlorite (NaClO2) to extract the residual lignin (bleaching process). The obtained lignin-free cellulose was then treated with potassium hydroxide (KOH). The characterizations used to equate the MCC-C with commercial grade microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) are solubility test, X-ray diffractogram (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD showed that the crystallinity of MCC and MCC-C increased significantly by 80.15% and 71.8% by chemical treatments. TGA found that the active removal of lignin-hemicelluloses and the thermal stability of the material were about 350–500°C and 300–500°C. The morphology of the fiber confirmed that there is an irregular cross-section, non-uniform surface, a large amount of short microfibrils and some impurities on the surface of the coconut husk fiber. The findings showed that microcrystalline cellulose has been successfully extracted from coconut husk fiber and that it can be used further.