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Corncob cellulose nanosphere as an eco-friendly detergent

Nature Sustainability volume 3, pages 448–458 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The daily use of synthetic detergents at a global scale is responsible for substantial environmental impacts but managerial and policy strategies to address them are largely inadequate. More sustainable and eco-friendly detergents are an appealing solution to reduce environmental impacts. Here, we developed a detergent based on cellulose nanospheres (CNSs) from agricultural waste corncob, an overlooked abundant and cheap natural source that is often discarded. Compared with conventional surfactants, CNSs stabilize at oil–water interfaces and form Pickering emulsions with enhanced stability and antiredeposition properties. CNSs show higher cleaning efficiency in removing stains from various surfaces compared with powder and liquid commercial detergents. In contrast to high toxicity of commercial detergents, CNSs are non-toxic to several mammalian cell lines, zebrafish and hydroponic lettuce. Overall, our results demonstrated the feasibility of using agriculturally derived waste CNSs as a safer, more cost-effective and sustainable alternative to commercial synthetic detergents.

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Fig. 1: Characterization of CNSs and CNSs-stabilized Pickering emulsion.
Fig. 2: The oil de-wetting mechanism of CNSs.
Fig. 3: Cleaning capacity of DO50 compared with DWL for removing different stains from various fabrics by ultrasonic cleaner.
Fig. 4: Cleaning capacity of CNS formulation for removing stains from cotton fabrics using a Tergotometer.
Fig. 5: Toxicity studies of DO50 compared with DWL and LP.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Y.L. Source Data for Figs. 4b, 5a and 5d are provided as Source Data files.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China grant nos. NSFC31471577, 31772014 and 31972202, the Beijing Nova Program by Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission grant no. Z181100006218071, the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by China Association for Science and Technology grant no. 2016QNRC001 and the National Key R&D program by Ministry of Science and Technology of China grant no. 2016YFD0400804. Y.L. acknowledges insightful discussions of this manuscript with H. Lin (Cornell University) and H. Ma, J. Wang, G. Cheng, C. Liu and H. Liang (Beijing University of Chemical Technology).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Bin Liu, Tao Li.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Bin Liu, Dan Li, Cheng Bao, Jie Bai, Zhengquan Yu, Fazheng Ren & Yuan Li

  2. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

    Tao Li

  3. College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China

    Wenya Wang & Qipeng Yuan

  4. Physics and Physical Chemistry of Foods, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Leonard M. C. Sagis

  5. Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Xingen Lei

  6. Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Martien A. Cohen Stuart

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Contributions

Y.L. managed the whole project and designed all experiments. F.R. helped with manuscript revising, data analysis and provided experimental conditions. B.L. performed the preparation, characterization and cleaning experiments of CNSs. T.L. performed toxicity experiments and manuscript writing. W.W. assisted with the steam explosion of corncob. L.M.C.S. performed data analysis of interfacial properties. Q.Y. provided the corncob and helped with data analysis. X.L. and M.A.C. revised the manuscript. D.L., C.B. and J.B. helped with cytotoxicity experiments. Z.Y. assisted with the statistical analysis of toxicity data.

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Correspondence to Fazheng Ren or Yuan Li.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary methods, Figs. 1–10, Tables 1–5 and refs. 1–3.

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Source Data Fig. 4b

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Source Data Fig. 5a and 5d

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Liu, B., Li, T., Wang, W. et al. Corncob cellulose nanosphere as an eco-friendly detergent. Nat Sustain 3, 448–458 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0501-1

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