Bacterial cellulose: recent progress in production and industrial applications

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is synthesized as a valuable extracellular biopolymer by several bacteria belonging to the genera of Acetobacter, Achromobacter, Komagataeibacter, Agrobacterium, Bacillus, Azotobacter, Sarcinia, Lactobacillus and Gluconacetobacter. Unlike plant cellulose, since BC does not contain lignin, hemicellulose, pectin, arabinose and other plant-derived contaminants, it can be obtained purely from the culture media without any purification processes. BC exhibits excellent physicochemical and mechanical properties such as purity, high crystallinity, transparency, porosity, high water holding capacity, ultrafine nanoscale fiber network, tensile strength, high degree of polymerization, high surface area, chemical stability and proton conductivity. In addition, BC has become an essential nanomaterial in many industrial processes as it is biocompatible, biodegradable and renewable. In this respect, researchers are focused on the production of BC using low-cost substrates, investigation of potential BC producers, optimization of cultivation conditions, and modification of BC pellicles with different procedures. Based on these researches, this review of recent progress in bacterial cellulose production, both in vivo and in vitro modifications of surface properties of BC and its industrial applications in different areas are discussed in this review.