*3.2.2.3 Mechanical treatment process*

Cellulose fibers can be mechanically processed to isolate nanocellulose fibers (NCFs) using various mechanical methods such as ultrasonication, ball milling, and


#### **Table 5.**

*Acid hydrolysis treatment of different lignocellulosic fibers.*


#### **Table 6.**

*Multiple mechanical treatments used on various sources of lignocellulosic fibers.*

*Nano-Cellulosic Fibers from Agricultural Wastes DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98637*

high-pressure homogenization. However, the main limitation of these processes is the high input energy requirements, which require the incorporation of pretreatment methods to reduce energy consumption. Among the mechanical methods, high-pressure homogenization is also widely applied to isolate CNFs from plants [57]. It is important to note that the diameter of CNFs (which usually varies from around 2 to 20 nm in diameter and up to several microns in length) is largely


#### **Table 7.**

*Comparison of CNF extraction method from the banana fruit peel and its pseudostem.*

determined by the source. **Table 6** summarizes the various conditions of highpressure homogenization applied by other researchers.

**Tables 7**–**9** further elaborates the methods used by researchers to obtain NCF from the agricultural wastes of banana, corn and pineapples.
