General characteristics of cellulose

Cellulose is one of the most widely distributed natural polymers, since it is one of the principal components of vegetable tissue. It always occurs in nature in the form of fibres varying from the knap-like fibres covering cotton seeds, to the woody substance of trees. The name cellulose is used both for cellulose isolated from the plant, and thus a chemical compound, and for cellulose in situ in the form normally occurring in the plant. In the second case cellulose together with hemicelluloses and lignin form the main constituents of the plant. 

Little is known of the manner in which these three main components of plant tissue are bound together, whether by purely physical forces or partly by these and partly by chemical links, possibly of the ester type (Hirst [14]). 

It is possible, therefore, that isolated cellulose contains some functional groups which were engaged originally in forming the linkages between cellulose and the pther components of the plant. Further the isolation of cellulose inevitably causes 

Strictly speaking it is possible to isolate cellulose from any plant. However, in the selection of cellulose as raw material for industrial purposes a complex of factors is to be considered  

As a raw material for large-scale nitration, cellulose from cotton, alfalfa and wood pulp is used. Cellulose from annual or biennial plants such as nettle or cereals (straw pulp) etc. is seldom used. 

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General characteristics of cellulose Structure of cellulose Chemical properties of cellulose Welting and swelling Degradation of cellulose Effect of other factors on cellulose Substances accompanying cellulose Hemicellulascs Lignin... 

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