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We demonstrated that low-cost and environmentally friendly filaments of native cellulose can be prepared by dry spinning an aqueous suspension of cellulose nanofibers (CNF). The CNF were extracted from banana rachis, a bioresidue from banana cultivation. The relationship between spinning rate, CNF concentration, and the mechanical properties of the filaments were investigated and the results showed that the modulus of the filaments was increased from 7.8 to 12.6 GPa and the strength increased from 131 to 222 MPa when the lowest concentration and highest speed was used. This improvement is believed to be due to an increased orientation of the CNF in the filament. A minimum concentration of 6.5 wt % was required for continuous filament spinning using the current setup. However, this relatively high concentration is thought to limit the orientation of the CNF in the filament. The process used in this study has a good potential for upscaling providing a continuous filament production with well-controlled speed, but further work is required to increase the orientation and subsequently the mechanical properties.

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Cellulosic nanomaterials are potential candidates in different areas, especially in water treatment. In the current work, palm fruit stalks cellulose nanofibers (CNF), TEMPO-oxidized CNF (OCNF), and activated carbon (AC) were used to make thin film membranes for removal of E. coli bacteria from water. Two types of layered membranes were produced: a single layer setup of crosslinked CNF and a two-layer setup of AC/OCNF (bottom) and crosslinked CNF (up) on hardened filter paper. The prepared membranes were evaluated regarding their microstructure and layers thickness using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Water flux and rejection of E. coli bacteria was tested using dead end stirred cells at 1 MPa pressure. Thickness of the cosslinked CNF layer in both types of membranes was about 0.75 micron. The results showed that exchanging water by isopropyl alcohol before drying increased porosity of membranes, and thus resulted in increasing pure water flux and flux of bacteria suspension. The two-layer AC/OCNF/CNF membrane had much higher water flux than the single layer CNF due to higher porosity seen on the surface of the former. Both types of membranes showed high capability of removing E. coli bacteria (rejection~96-99%) with slightly higher efficiency for the AC/OCNF/CNF membrane than CNF membrane. AC/OCNF/CNF membrane also showed resistance against growth of E. coli and S. aureus bacteria on the upper CNF surface while the single layer CNF membrane did not show resistance against growth of the aforementioned bacteria.