Identification

• Cellulose is an organic compound that is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules bound together, generally in a lengthy chain. It occurs quite commonly in nature, constituting a majority of the material found in most forms of plant life. Because it's easy to find, and to produce, cellulose is a popular ingredient in many different production applications.
  
  

Applications

• Cellulose in used in myriad products and in many different ways. Some of the most popular applications for it are in the manufacture of paper, textiles, cellophane and other regenerated cellulose fibers, film and adhesives. It is used not only because of its relative suitability for these applications, but also because it is cheap and easily procured.
  
  

Warning

• Unfortunately, cellulose is extremely flammable. Wood, for example, is largely made up of cellulose. Paper is, as well. Of course, everyone knows that both items are extremely flammable. So cellulose in and of itself poses quite a fire risk. Many industries have attempted to minimize this risk by treating their cellulose-based products with fire retardant compounds or by switching to non-cellulose materials.
  
  

Considerations

• As mentioned above, many industries actively battle the flammable tendencies of cellulose. The insulation industry, for example, generally makes their cellulose insulation from cellulose that is recycled from old newspapers. The cellulose itself is extremely flammable, and in the past cellulose insulation was a very serious fire hazard. Today, however, cellulose insulation is treated with several flame chemicals to make it as flame retardant as possible.
  
  

Benefits

• The flammability of cellulose is not always a negative thing. In fact, in many cases the relative ease of lighting cellulose on fire has represented a boon to mankind. Most plant matter consists largely of cellulose because cellulose is the primary constituent in plant cell walls. Human civilization largely relied on cellulose-based plant matter as fuel for fires. Without the fires that cellulose provided, modern civilization would likely failed to have formed at all.