Cellulose based bioplastics: A sustainable approach toward environmental safety - A review

Abstract

The increasing human population coupled with technological advancements and over consumption of petroleum-based plastics has deteriorated the natural ecosystem and possessed serious impact on the flora and fauna. The non-biodegradable nature of plastics causes the accumulation in oceans, landfills, and terrestrial environments and led to widespread ecological disruption. Thus, the development of bioplastics/biopolymers offers a promising and sustainable alternative to mitigate the environmental impact of conventional plastics. Out of different sources, Cellulose is considered as the most promising biopolymer produced by many organisms and obtainable from wide range of agricultural wastes. Cellulose is biodegradable, non-toxic, non-food, biocompatible, material for generating bioplastics. This review main objective to compile the different synthetic approaches used to fabricate cellulose and its different range of derivatives for the development of bioplastic. The current review further highlights the optimization factors affecting the properties of cellulose based bioplastic. The compilation in this review further supports the future prospects in the cellulose based bioplastic applications in packaging, medical, and electronic industries. The review further concluded the plausible remonstrance in reproducibility, scale-up fabrication, and future research prospective for strengthening their potential usages.