ABSTRACT
Appendix 1 .........................................................................................................................171
Appendix 2 .........................................................................................................................172
Acknowledgment................................................................................................................ 174
References .......................................................................................................................... 174
Cellulose is the world’s most abundant naturally occurring organic substance, rivaled only by
chitin. It has been estimated that nature synthesizes from 100 to 1000 billion (1011 to 1012)
metric tons of cellulose every year [1-3]. It is therefore not surprising that humans have made
use of cellulose on a vast scale in the paper, mining, building and allied industries, and as a
source of bioenergy. This applies to cellulose in its natural state, isolated, or as a source of raw
material for modification into products having different properties from those of pure
cellulose. Wood pulp is the main source of processed cellulose, the bulk of which is converted
to paper and cardboard, and about 2%, amounting to just over 3 million tons, into regener-
ated fiber and films or chemical derivatives [3].
