Bagasse—A major agro-industrial residue as potential resource for nanocellulose inks for 3D printing of wound dressing devices

Sugarcane bagasse, an abundant residue, is usually burned as an energy source. However, provided that appropriate and sustainable pulping and fractionation processes are applied, bagasse can be utilized as a main source of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). We explored in this study the production of CNF inks for 3D printing by direct-ink-writing technology. The CNF were tested against L929 fibroblasts cell line and we confirmed that the CNF from soda bagasse fibers were found not to have a cytotoxic potential. Additionally, we demonstrated that the alginate and Ca²⁺ caused significant dimensional changes to the 3D printed constructs. The CNF-alginate grids exhibited a lateral expansion after printing and then shrank due to the cross-linking with the Ca²⁺. The release of Ca²⁺ from the CNF and CNF-alginate constructs was quantified thus providing more insight about the CNF as carrier for Ca²⁺. This, combined with 3D printing, offers potential for personalized wound dressing devices, i.e. tailor-made constructs that can be adapted to a specific shape, depending on the characteristics of the wound healing treatment.