A simple approach was developed to prepare carboxycellulose nanofibers directly from untreated biomass using nitric acid or nitric acid-sodium nitrite mixtures. Experiments indicated that this approach greatly reduced the need for multichemicals, and offered significant benefits in lowering the consumption of water and electric energy, when compared with conventional multiple-step processes at bench scale (e.g., TEMPO oxidation). Additionally, the effluent produced by this approach could be efficaciously neutralized using base to produce nitrogen-rich salts as fertilizers. TEM measurements of resulting nanofibers from different biomasses, possessed dimensions in the range of 190-370 and 4 S nm, having PDI = 0.29-0.38. These nanofibers exhibited lower crystallinity than untreated jute fibers as determined by TEM diffraction, WAXD and C-13 CPMAS NMR (e.g., WAXD crystallinity index was similar to 35% for nanofibers vs 62% for jute). Nanofibers with low crystallinity were found to be effective for removal of heavy metal ions for drinking water purification.