Cellulose nanocrystals appeared as important bio-based products and the collected information in term of production, characterization and application suggest that this nanomaterial could be easily extrapolated to bioethanol production. This review describes recent published syntheses using chemical and enzymatic hydrolyses and different preparations such as high pressure homogenization. Their industrial and medical applications, such as controled of delivery carriers, suggest a large projection of this nanomaterial. The most important aspect in this collected data is the potential to decrease significantly the final cost of the enzymes or the hydrolysis pre-treatment of lignocellulosic materials of all bioethanol processes in such a way that it could be economically feasible from materials such as bagasse, straw or wood resources.562672677Hubbe, M.A., Rojas, O.J., Lucia, L.A., Sain, M., (2008) BioResources, 3, p. 929Goelzer, F.D.E., Faria-Tischer, P.C.S., Vitorino, J.C., Sierakowski, M.R., Tischer, C.A., (2009) Mat. Sci. Eng. C, 29, p. 546Wang, N., Ding, E., Cheng, R., (2008) Langmuir, 24, p. 5Pu, Y., Zhang, J., Elder, T., Deng, Y., Gatenholm, P., Ragauskas, A.J., (2007) Composites: Part B: Eng, 38, p. 360Elazzouzi-Hafraoui, S., Nishiyama, Y., Putaux, J.L., Heux, L., Dubreuil, F., Rochas, C., (2008) Biomacromolecules, 9, p. 57Moon, R.J., (2008) MacGraw-Hill Year Book of Science and Technology, pp. 225-228. , McGraw Hill, N. YorkPostek, M., Brown, E., (2009) Proc, , SPIE 10.1117/2.1200903.1474Ragauskas, A.J., (2007) Cellulase Microfibrills and Nanotechnology, , http://ipst.gatech.edu/faculty_new/faculty_bios/ragauskas/ student_presentations/Portugal_Nanocellulose.pdf, June 2007, PortugalHamad, W., (2006) Can. J. Chem. Eng, 84, p. 513Gray, D.G., (2008) Towards Understanding Wood, Fibre, and Paper-deeper Knowledge Through Modern Analytical Tools, 50. , Turku / Åbo, May 2008, Final seminar of COST Action E41 & Workshop of Action EWegner, T.H., Jones, P.E., (2006) Cellulose, 13, p. 115Postek, M.T., Vladar, A., Dagata, J., Farkas, N., Ming, B., Sabo, R., Wegner, T.H., Beecher, J., (2008) Proc. SPIE, 7042, pp. 70420D. , 2008, doi:10.1117/12.797575Lima, M.M.S., Borsali, R., (2004) Macromol. Rapid Commun, 25, p. 771Gacitua, W., Ballerini, A., Zhang, J., (2005) Maderas- Cienc. Tecnol, 7, p. 159Samir, M.A.S.A., Alloin, F., Dufresne, A., (2005) Biomacromolecules, 6, p. 612Niska, K.O., (2008) Eur. Conf. Compos. Mat. Jene, , Stockholm. SwedenSilva, D.J., D'almeida, M.L.O., (2009) O Papel, 70, p. 34Habibi, Y., Lucia, L.A., Rojas, O.J., (2010) Chem. Rev, 110, p. 3479Cao, X., Habibi, Y., Magalhães, W.L.E., Rojas, O.J., Lucia, L.A., (2011) Curr. Sci, 100, p. 1172Dufresne, A., (2006) J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol, 6, p. 322Dufresne, A., (2008) Can. J. Chem, 86, p. 484Eichhorn, S.J., Dufresne, A., Aranguren, M., Marcovich, N.E., Capadona, J.R., Rowan, S.J., Weder, C., Peijs, T., (2010) J. Mater. Sci, 45, p. 1Siró, I., Plackett, D., (2010) Cellulose, 17, pp. 459-494Moon, R.J., Martini, A., Nairn, J., Simonsen, J., Youngblood, J., (2011) Chem. Soc. Rev, , DOI: 10.1039/c0cs00108bDujardin, E., Blaseby, M., Mann, S., (2003) J. Mater. Chem, 13, p. 696Beck-Candanedo, S., Roman, M., Gray, D.G., (2005) Biomacromolecules, 6, p. 1048Bondeson, D., Mathew, A., Oksman, K., (2006) Cellulose, 13, p. 171Ramires, E.C., Dufresne, A., (2011) Tappi J, 10, p. 9Habibi, Y., Foulon, L., Aguié-Béghin, V., Molinari, M., Douillard, R., (2007) J. Colloid Interf. Sci, 316, p. 388Van Den, O., Berg, J.R., Capadona, C., (2007) Weder, Biomacromolecules, 8, p. 1353Wang, N., Ding, E., Cheng, R., (2007) Polymer, 48, p. 3486Purkait, B.S., Ray, D., Sengupta, S., Kar, T., Mohanty, A., Misra, M., (2011) Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 50, p. 871Braun, R., Dorgan, J.R., Chandler, J.P., (2008) Biomacromolecules, 9, p. 1255Jean, B., Dubreuil, F., Heux, L., Cousin, F., (2008) Langmuir, 24, p. 3452Filson, P.B., Dawson-Andoh, B.E., (2009) Bioresource Technol, 100, p. 2259Filson, P.B., Dawson-Andoh, B.E., (2009) Bioresource Technol, 100, p. 6661Pandey, J.P., Kim, C.S., Chu, W.S., Lee, C.S., Jang, D.Y., Ahn, S.H., (2009) E-Polymers, 102, p. 1. , http://www.e-polymers.orgKontturi, E., Vuorinen, T., (2009) Cellulose, 16, p. 65Li, Q., Renneckar, S., (2009) Cellulose, 16, p. 1025Rosa, M.F., Medeiros, E.S., Malmonge, J.A., Wood, D.F., Mattoso, L.H.C., Orts, W.J., Imam, S.H., (2009) 11th Intern. Conf. on Advanced Materials-ICAM-2009, , September, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilRosa, M.F., Medeiros, E.S., Malmonge, J.A., Wood, D.F., Mattoso, L.H.C., Orts, W.J., Imam, S.H., (2008) 18° Congr. Brasil. Eng. Ciênc. Mat.-CBIMAT, , November, Porto de Galinhas, PE, Abstr 202-163Li, R., Fei, J., Cai, Y., Li, Y., Feng, J., Yao, J., (2009) Carbohydr. Polym, 76, p. 94Turbak, A.F., Snyder, F.W., Sandberg, K.R., (1983) J. Appl. Polym. Sci. Appl. Polym. Symp, 37, p. 815Seydibeyoglu, M.O., Oksman, K., (2008) Compos. Sci. Technol, 68, p. 908Wagberg, L., Decher, G., Norgren, M., Lindstrom, T., Ankerfors, M., Axnas, K., (2008) Langmuir, 24, p. 784Lee, S.Y., Chun, S.J., Kang, I.A., Park, J.Y., (2009) J. Ind. Eng. Chem, 15, p. 50Bendahou, A., Kaddami, H., Dufresne, A., (2010) Eur. Polym. J, 46, pp. 609-620Paakko, M., Ankerfors, M., Kosonen, H., Nykanen, A., Ahola, S., Osterberg, M., Ruokolainen, J., Lindstrom, T., (2007) Biomacromolecules, 8, p. 1934Jiang, L., Chen, X., Li, Z., (2008) Huaxue Yu Shengwu Gongcheng, 25, p. 63Filson, P.B., Dawson-Andoh, B.E., Schwegler-Berry, D., (2009) Green Chem, 11, p. 1808George, J., Ramana, K.V., Bawa, A.S., (2011) Siddaramaiah Inter. J. Biol. Macromol, 48, p. 50Satyamurthy, P., Jain, P., Balasubramanya, R.H., Vigneshwaran, N., (2011) Carbohydr. Polym, 83, p. 122Dong, S., Roman, M., (2007) J. Am. Chem. Soc, 129, p. 13810Habibi, Y., Dufresne, A., (2008) Biomacromolecules, 9, p. 1974Jiang, L., Morelius, E., Zhang, J., Wolcott, M., Holbery, J., (2008) J. Composit. Mat, 42, p. 2629Cho, M.J., Park, B.D., (2011) J. Ind. Eng. Chem, 17, p. 36Lemes, A.P., Gonçalves, R., Moretti, A.M., Marcato, P.D., Durán, N., (2008) VII Meeting of SBPMat-2008 - VII Ann. Meeting of the Braz. Soc. Res. Mat., 566 B. , September, Guarujá-SP, Brasil AbstrTen, E., Turtle, J., Bahr, D., Jiang, L., Wolcott, M., (2010) Polymer, 51, p. 2652Capadona, J.R., Shanmuganathan, K., Trittschuh, S., Seidel, S., Rowan, S.J., Weder, C., (2009) Biomacromolecules, 10, p. 712Bendahou, A., Kaddami, H., Raihane, M., Habibi, Y., Dufresne, A., (2009) Rev. Roumaine Chim, 54, p. 571Garcia, N.L., Ribba, L., Dufresne, A., Aranguren, M.I., Goyanes, S., (2009) Macromol. Mat. Eng, 294, p. 169De Menezes, A.J., Siqueira, G., Curvelo, A.A.S., Dufresne, A., (2009) Polymer, 50, p. 4552Oksman, K., Mathew, A.P., Sain, M., (2009) Plastics Rubber Compos, 38, p. 396Morandi, G., Heath, L., Thielemans, W., (2009) Langmuir, 25, p. 8280Siqueira, G., Abdillahi, H., Brás, J., Dufresne, A., (2010) Cellulose, 17, pp. 289-298Kvien, I., Tanem, B.S., Oksman, K., (2005) Biomacromolecules, 6, p. 3160Pandey, J.K., Lee, C.S., Ahn, S.H., (2010) J.. Appl. Polym. Sci, 115, p. 2493Liu, D.Y., Yuan, X.W., Bhattacharyya, D., Easteal, A.J., (2010) Express Polym. Lett, 4, p. 26Shanmuganathan, K., Capadona, J.R., Rowan, S.J., Weder, C., (2010) J. Mat. Chem, 20, p. 180Mikkonen, K.S., Mathew, A.P., Pirkkalainen, K., Serimaa, R., Xu, C., Willfor, S., Oksman, S., Tenkanen, K., (2010) Cellulose, 17, pp. 69-81De Mesquita, J.C., Donnici, C.L., Pereira, F.V., (2010) Biomacromolecules, 11, p. 473Auad, M.L., Mosiewicki, M.A., Richardson, T., Aranguren, M.I., Marcovich, N.E., (2010) J. Appl. Polym. Sci, 115, p. 1215Mosiewicki, M.A., Wik, V.M., Aranguren, M.I., (2011) Plastic Res. Online, pp. 1-2. , 10.1002/spepro.003617Wik, V.M., Aranguren, M.I., Mosiewicki, M.A., (2011) Polym. Eng. Sci, , DOI: 10.1002/pen.21939Rusli, R., Shanmuganathan, K., Rowan, S.J., Weder, C., Eichhorn, S.J., (2011) Biomacromolecules, 12, p. 1363Liu, H., Liu, D., Yao, F., Wu, Q., (2010) Bioresource Technol, 101, p. 5685Dufresne, A., (2010) Molecules, 15, p. 4111Siqueira, G., Tapin-Lingua, S., Bras, J., Perez, D.S., Dufresne, A., (2011) Cellulose, 18, p. 57Gardner, D.J., (2011) Wood Fiber Sci, 43, p. 1Wang, D., Li, G., Huang, Y., (2004) Faming Zhuanli Shenqing Gongkai Shuomingshu, , Patent CN 1491976 A 20040428Roman, M., Dong, S., Hirani, A.A., Lee, Y.W., 235th ACS national meeting (2008) Abstr. CELL-030, , New Orleans, LA, United StatesHirani, A., (2009) Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, , Master of Science Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityWang, H., Roman, M., (2011) Biomacromolecules, 12, p. 1585Jackson, J.K., Letchford, K., Wasserman, B.Z., Ye, L., Hamad, W.Y., Burt, H.M., (2011) Inter. J. Nanomed, 6, p. 321Postek, M.T., Vladar, A., Dagata, J., Farkas, N., Ming, B., Wagner, R., Raman, A., Beecher, J., (2011) Meas. Sci. Technol, 22, p. 024005Wyman, C.E., Dale, B.E., Elander, R.T., Holtzapple, M., Ladisch, M.R., Lee, Y.Y., (2005) Bioresource Technol, 96, p. 1959Leistritz, F.L., Senechal, D.M., Stower, M.D., McDonald, W.F., Safron, C.M., Hodur, N.M., (2006) Agribussines and Applied Economic Report No 590, , http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/23500Winter, W.T., (2007) Div. Cell. Renew. Mat., , 233rd ACS Nat. Meeting, Chicago, Il. MarchDurán, N., Lemes, A.P., Durán, M., Marcato, P.D., Freer, J., Baeza, J., Franco, H., (2010) Intern. Conf. Food Agric. Appl. Nanotechnol (NanoAgri-2010), , São Carlos, S.P., BrazilFranco, H., Mendonça, R.T., Marcato, P.D., Durán Freer, J.N., Baeza, J., (2011) Bioresource Technol SubmittedOksman, K., Etang, J.A., Mathew, A.P., Jonoobi, M., (2011) Biomass Bioener, 35, p. 146Chen, Y., Stipanovic, A.J., Winter, W.T., Wilson, D.B., Kim, Y.J., (2007) Cellulose, 14, p. 283Goodrich, J.D.F., Winter, W.T., (2007) Biomacromolecules, 8, p. 252Winandy, J.E., Rudie, A.W., Williams, R.S., Wegner, T.H., (2008) Forest Prod. J, 58, p. 8(2009) Energy Biomass Program, , http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/biomass_deep_dive_pir.pdf, US-DEBP-2009: US. Depart., September(2010) Novozymes-2010, , http://www.novozymes.com/en/MainStructure/PressAndPublications/Newsitems/ 2010/Car+on+paper+waste.htm(2011) Domtar and FPInnovations, , http://www.fpinnovations.ca/pdfs/BinderEn.pdf, Assessed in May 14Chirat, C., Lachenal, D., Dufresne, A., (2010) Cellulose Chem. Technol, 44, p. 59Berrocal, A., Baeza, J., Rodriguez, J., Espinosa, M., Freer, J., (2004) J. Chilean Chem. Soc, 49, p. 251