Table 1 shows how the high-pressure homogenizer affected the dimensions of cellulose nanofibers. These nanofibers were characterized in terms of particle diameter (D), length (L), and aspect ratio (L/D). Nanofibers isolated from banana peel had diameters between 10.9 and 22.6 nm and lengths ranging from 335.1 to 454.9 nm. The aspect ratio ranged from about 15.1 to 42.7, which lay in the range of long nanofibers with potential use as reinforcing agents in composites. These results agreed with data reported for other cellulose nanofibers extracted from different sources (Bondeson et al. 2006; Elazzouzi-Hafraoui et al. 2008; Rosa et al. 2010). Figure 5 illustrates the particle size distribution for
the banana peel bran (diameter) and cellulose nanofibers (length). All the samples exhibited a modal distribution; the bran had an average diameter of 24.5 lm. The peak position of length distributions of cellulose nanofibers shifted to lower values with increasing number of passages in the high-pressure homogenizer; i.e., successive passages through the homogenizer degraded amorphous zones and partly destroyed the crystalline zones of the fibers, resulting in shorter nanofibers. De Moura et al. (2011) also reported that successive passages through a microfluidizer reduced the length size distribution of cellulose fibers. tangled bundles.