Harnessing cow manure waste for nanocellulose extraction and sustainable small-structure manufacturing

The use of sustainable materials as alternatives to fossil-derived materials is vital to tackle the current environmental challenges. Cellulose is a good candidate due to its intrinsic properties. It is wise to consider cellulose rich-waste materials as its sources, rather than high-grade resources, integrating with the concept of a circular economy. In this study, we successfully produced type I cellulose nanofibrils with an average diameter of 12.8 ± 4.1 nm, from cow manure collected from a local dairy farm, leveraging this sustainable cellulose source to upscale agricultural waste into high-performance biopolymers. This new route offers a practical solution to provide an abundant source of cellulose feedstock while mitigating the environmental concerns of farm animal waste. Following this, the extracted cellulose was used for manufacturing small-structure cellulose products through an innovative method, namely nozzle-pressurized spinning. This is distinguished by its simplicity, high efficiency, and low-energy consumption for straightforward forming. The morphological diversity of these cellulose products further expands their application fields, such as textile, food additives, packaging, electronics, and healthcare.