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Polymers
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Novel Polymeric Materials from Biomass Resources
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Novel Polymeric Materials from Biomass Resources

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 10823

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rosana Moriana Torró

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Bioeconomy and Health, Department of Materials and Surface Design, Cellulose Unit, RISE-Research Institute of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: bio-based and bio-degradable polymeric materials; biorefinery processes for biomass components extraction; valorisation of residual biomass; nanocellulose production and characterization; bio-based composites and nanocomposites; bio-based films for food active packaging; food additives; vegetal proteinic-based food; degradability and long term properties of bio-based materials; LCA of polymeric materials; sustainability and circular economy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During recent years, motivation for sustainable development has increased significantly, leading to a major interest in the research and development of new polymeric materials from biomass resources. The main motivation for developing bio-based materials has been to create a new generation of polymeric materials that are competitive with fossil-based materials and environmentally compatible in terms of production, use, and disposal. Bio-based materials are already found in some sectors, with their uses ranging from commodity to high-tech applications. However, there are still some drawbacks (i.e., low performance) and related challenges (e.g., proven sustainability by life cycle assessment) which prevent their wider commercialization in many applications.

Recent advances in different research areas offer significant opportunities for improved bio-based materials with enhanced performance and functionality. This, in turn, allows for identifying market applications and accelerating the commercialization of such improved bio-based materials. The different areas in which technological and innovation challenges are currently being overcome are, among others, biomass structural characterization, enzyme biotechnology, biomass fractionation technologies, valorization of agricultural and forest wastes/by-products, conversion of natural building blocks into polymers, polymers produced by microorganisms, biopolymer modifications and/or processing, self-assembly of natural molecular compounds, and (nano-)composite design. The actual challenge is therefore to develop bio-based materials with enhanced performance during their use but with a low environmental impact after their service life, ensuring their recyclability or return to nature without inducing any damage to the environment and human health. Potential sectors of application include production of food additives and new sources of proteinic foods, plastics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, composites, paper development, building materials, and packaging.

This Special Issue aims to cover all research aspects related to the conversion of biomass resources into sustainable polymeric materials, including the extraction and purification of natural building blocks and biopolymers, their modification and processing, as well as their characterization and degradability in different environmental agents, in order to validate their use as alternatives for fossil-based materials in specific applications. Therefore, contributions highlighting the progress in fundamental research dealing with biomass structural characterization and establishment of biorefinery processes to obtain molecular compounds are welcome, along with those concerning the valorization of biomass into specific industrial applications.

Dr. Moriana Torró Rosana
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Renewable sources
  • Biopolymers
  • Biodegradable polymers
  • Biomass characterization
  • Biotechnology
  • Sustainable polymeric materials
  • Bio-composites and nanocomposites
  • Nanocellulose
  • Polysaccharide-based materials
  • Protein-based materials
  • Lignin-based materials

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3980 KiB  
Article
Hybrid Filaments from Saccaharina lattisima Biomass: Engineering of Alginate Properties with Maleic Anhydride Grafted Linseed Oil
by Martin Sterner and Ulrica Edlund
Polymers 2021, 13(5), 836; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13050836 - 9 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2188
Abstract
Linseed oil was graft modified with maleic anhydride and introduced into alginate by co-extrusion, producing alginate hybrid filaments. A straightforward grafting of maleic anhydride onto the oil backbone produced the modified oil. Additional esterification with n-dodecanol was also investigated. The structures of [...] Read more.
Linseed oil was graft modified with maleic anhydride and introduced into alginate by co-extrusion, producing alginate hybrid filaments. A straightforward grafting of maleic anhydride onto the oil backbone produced the modified oil. Additional esterification with n-dodecanol was also investigated. The structures of the modified oils were verified with 2D-NMR. The modified oil was mixed with alginate and extruded into CaCl2, forming thin filaments with diameters in the 130–260 μm range. The impact of oil integration into the alginate filaments was assessed, with special emphasis on stress-at-break, and compared to values predicted by an empirical model relating the “stress to alginate concentration” ratio to prevailing conditions during filament drawing. Analogous alginate filaments were prepared with hydrochloric-, oxalic- and phytic acid calcium salts for comparison with alginate–oil hybrids to reveal the induced impact, with respect to the composition and charge, on the tensile performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Polymeric Materials from Biomass Resources)
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17 pages, 4443 KiB  
Article
α-Cellulose Fibers of Paper-Waste Origin Surface-Modified with Fe3O4 and Thiolated-Chitosan for Efficacious Immobilization of Laccase
by Gajanan S. Ghodake, Surendra K. Shinde, Ganesh D. Saratale, Rijuta G. Saratale, Min Kim, Seung-Cheol Jee, Dae-Young Kim, Jung-Suk Sung and Avinash A. Kadam
Polymers 2021, 13(4), 581; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13040581 - 15 Feb 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3351
Abstract
The utilization of waste-paper-biomass for extraction of important α-cellulose biopolymer, and modification of extracted α-cellulose for application in enzyme immobilization can be extremely vital for green circular bio-economy. Thus, in this study, α-cellulose fibers were super-magnetized (Fe3O4), grafted with [...] Read more.
The utilization of waste-paper-biomass for extraction of important α-cellulose biopolymer, and modification of extracted α-cellulose for application in enzyme immobilization can be extremely vital for green circular bio-economy. Thus, in this study, α-cellulose fibers were super-magnetized (Fe3O4), grafted with chitosan (CTNs), and thiol (-SH) modified for laccase immobilization. The developed material was characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), HR-TEM energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (HR-TEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses. Laccase immobilized on α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs (α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs-Laccase) gave significant activity recovery (99.16%) and laccase loading potential (169.36 mg/g). The α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs-Laccase displayed excellent stabilities for temperature, pH, and storage time. The α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs-Laccase applied in repeated cycles shown remarkable consistency of activity retention for 10 cycles. After the 10th cycle, α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs possessed 80.65% relative activity. Furthermore, α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs-Laccase shown excellent degradation of pharmaceutical contaminant sulfamethoxazole (SMX). The SMX degradation by α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs-Laccase was found optimum at incubation time (20 h), pH (3), temperatures (30 °C), and shaking conditions (200 rpm). Finally, α-Cellulose-Fe3O4-CTNs-Laccase gave repeated degradation of SMX. Thus, this study presents a novel, waste-derived, highly capable, and super-magnetic nanocomposite for enzyme immobilization applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Polymeric Materials from Biomass Resources)
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16 pages, 3668 KiB  
Article
Microencapsulation of Copper(II) Sulfate in Ionically Cross-Linked Chitosan by Spray Drying for the Development of Irreversible Moisture Indicators in Paper Packaging
by Sandra Rojas-Lema, Jorge Terol, Eduardo Fages, Rafael Balart, Luis Quiles-Carrillo, Cristina Prieto and Sergio Torres-Giner
Polymers 2020, 12(9), 2039; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12092039 - 8 Sep 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4623
Abstract
Copper(II) sulfate-loaded chitosan microparticles were herein prepared using ionic cross-linking with sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) followed by spray drying. The microencapsulation process was optimal using an inlet temperature of 180 °C, a liquid flow-rate of 290 mL/h, an aspiration rate of 90%, and an [...] Read more.
Copper(II) sulfate-loaded chitosan microparticles were herein prepared using ionic cross-linking with sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) followed by spray drying. The microencapsulation process was optimal using an inlet temperature of 180 °C, a liquid flow-rate of 290 mL/h, an aspiration rate of 90%, and an atomizing gas flow-rate of 667 nL/h. Chitosan particles containing copper(II) sulfate of approximately 4 µm with a shrunken-type morphology were efficiently attained and, thereafter, fixated on a paper substrate either via cross-linking with STPP or using a chitosan hydrogel. The latter method led to the most promising system since it was performed at milder conditions and the original paper quality was preserved. The developed cellulose substrates were reduced and then exposed to different humidity conditions and characterized using colorimetric measurements in order to ascertain their potential as irreversible indicators for moisture detection. The results showed that the papers coated with the copper(II) sulfate-containing chitosan microparticles were successfully able to detect ambient moisture shown by the color changes of the coatings from dark brown to blue, which can be easily seen with the naked eye. Furthermore, the chitosan microparticles yielded no cytotoxicity in an in vitro cell culture experiment. Therefore, the cellulose substrates herein developed hold great promise in paper packaging as on-package colorimetric indicators for monitoring moisture in real time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Polymeric Materials from Biomass Resources)
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