A characteristic study of nanocrystalline cellulose and its potential in forming pickering emulsion

The phenomenon of particle-stabilized emulsion was a breakthrough discovery by Ramsden and Pickering in 19's century. It has recently attracted tremendous attention among different disciplines for its potential developments in oil recovery, food industry, and biomedical application due to its high stability, better permeability, and compatibility as a delivery platform. Recently, research efforts have been shifted toward the exploration of using biologically derived materials in emulsion formation. In the current study, the extraction of nanocrystalline cellulose from oil palm empty fruit bunch was reviewed. To our knowledge, the characteristic of nanocrystalline cellulose was largely determined by the hydrolysis process. For the conventional acid hydrolysis route, acid destroyed the cellulose amorphous region, greatly reduced its degree of polymerization, and thus resulting in much smaller cellulose particles. This would be the fundamental for the later formation of sub-micron Pickering emulsion.