Cellulose plant sources

Plant cell walls are of vital importance to the activity of cells and are also of significance to the texture of foods originating from plant sources. This type of cell wall is mostly composed of cellulose, pectin and hemicellulose, proteins,... 

A recent classification (1 ) describes the pectic polysaccharides as those polymers found in covalent association with galactu-ronosyl-containing polysaccharides. The hemicelluloses are those carbohydrate polymers which are noncovalently associated with cellulose. Diverse categories of pectic polysaccharides occur not only among plant sources, but among tissues in a given source. 

Purified celluloses from different plant sources differ in digestion rate, in vitro (2, 39). This is also true for cellulose in intact plant mate-... 

Although no enzyme capable of synthesizing cellulose has as yet been obtained from plant sources, a similar substrate was prepared by extracting pea seedlings with 80% ethanol. When this material was incubated with ultrafiltered supernatant liquor of Acetobacter, cellulose microfibrils were obtained. ... 

Dietary fibers represent a gronp of carbohydrates, isolable from different plant sources, that are resistant to hydrolysis by enzymes of the gastrointestinal tract. They are divided into two groups water soluble fibers, among which the main are the p-glncans and arabinoxylans, and water insoluble fibers, which include lignins, celluloses, and hemicelluloses. 

However, there are potential risks associated with using bamboo as a polymer source for rayon since there is currently a lack of transparency in the supply chain. It is not always clear which type of bamboo is used for fibre, where it is grown, how it is cultivated, how it is harvested, and so forth. To date, there is no known organic certification of bamboo. The process to make bamboo viscose rayon fibre is the same process that is used to produce viscose/rayon from any other plant source. The cellulose is extracted from the bamboo and then mixed with chemicals to convert the plant pulp into textile quality fibre. This process can be very polluting unless it is carefully controlled, and can be influenced by the age and condition of the equipment as well as by whether there is any by-product recycling or effluent treatment. Note that in most countries the fibre cannot be called bamboo, only rayon or viscose from bamboo (textileexchange.org). 

Cellulose, like the polysaccharides above, has certain drawbacks. These include poor solubility in common solvents, poor crease resistance, poor dimensional stability, lack of thermoplasticity, high hydrophilicity, and lack of antimicrobial properties. To overcome such drawbacks, the controlled physical and/or chemical modification of the cellulose structure is essential [160]. Introduction of functional groups into cellulose can alleviate these problems while maintaining the desirable intrinsic properties of cellulose. Apart from the conventional plant source, cellulose is also obtained from bacteria, termed bacterial cellulose. 

Abstract Nature is gifted with several nanomaterials which could be obtained from different animal and plant sources. Cellulose, chitin and starch are abundant, natural, renewable and biodegradable polymers. By intelligent processing techniques they could be used as classical nano reinforcing fillers in polymers i.e., composites. They are often called whiskers. 

These adhesives are soluble or dispersible in water and are produced or extracted from natural sources. Other adhesives, such as rubber cements, lutrocellulose, and ethyl cellulose lacquer cements, are also produced from plant sources, but are not water-soluble or water-dispersible and are therefore not classified as vegetable glues. 

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