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It is considered the most frequently found polysaccharides in the nature which comprising 200–400 g/kg of the plant tissues. It is water insoluble, linear, unbranched structural polysaccharides with β-(1,4)-D-Glucose residues which are insoluble in water. Each D-glucose unit is rotated at 180° to its neighbor in a helical chain with length of 2,000–8,000 glucose units. Similarly, ~150 helical cellulose chain combined with each other through hydrogen binding for highly crystalline structure known as microfibrils. These microfibrils are approximately 3.6 nm wide and 100 nm apart without any gap, thus provide high mechanical strength and resistance to chemical and enzymatic digestion. The microfibrils have also some amorphous regions, that depend upon their source. Additionally, the algal cellulose has highly crystalline structure while the plants cellulose has least crystalline [5, 12].

Figure 2.1 The illustration depicts the cell walls of plant cell. The plant cell wall composed of cellulose microfibrils that have been cross linked with each other through glycans, pectin and other substances.