Bioplastics

Biography:

Elisabete  Frollini is the Head of the Macromolecular  Materials  and Lignocellulosic  Fiber  Group, and is  currently the coordinator of the Center for Research on Science and Technology of BioResources (Institute of Chemistry of Sao Carlos, University of Sao Paulo, Sao  Carlos,  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil).  She  has  expertise  in  bio-based  polymeric  materials  from   biomass  with  an  emphasis on lignocellulosic biomass, which has also been used within the scope of biorefinery.

Abstract:

Our  research is focused on  the use of  raw  materials which come from renewable sources and it aims at replacing those derived from petrochemical routes. In this context, cellulose derivatives  have  been  synthesized  for   diversified applications1, polymers have been prepared for  applications such as films, as well  as matrices in  composites reinforced with lignocellulosic fibers2,3, which have also been used  as reinforcement  of   biopolymers  obtained  on   an   industrial scale4. In addition, bio-based mats have been prepared from the   electrospinning   of     solutions    obtained    from   the dissolution of  lignocellulosic fibers and/or from their main constituents,  combined or  not with other polymers5,6,. The methodologies used in  these studies have followed what is described  in   the  respective  papers.  Ongoing studies  are conducted   by    using   similar   methodologies   to   those described in  the  papers  already published2-6.  Lignins  and derivatives   (such   as   lignosulfonates)   have   successfully replaced phenols in  the synthesis of  phenolic resins subsequently used as matrices in composites reinforced with lignocellulosic fibers (such as sugarcane bagasse, coconut, sisal,   curauá),   as  well    as   polyol  replacements   in    the synthesis of  polyurethanes (combine or  not with castor oil), which were later used as matrices and also as films. Recent studies, as well  as those in  progress, have shown that the properties of mats   such as the diameters of ultrafine (submicron)  and  nanometric (diameter  ≤ 100 nm)   fibers, tensile properties, among others, can  be  tuned by the electrospinning of  solutions obtained by  the simultaneous dissolution  of   lignocellulosic  fibers   or    the  constituents thereof (cellulose  and/or  lignin) and  a  polymer, both when the   fibers  are    randomly  oriented   and   when  they   are preferably oriented in  a  certain direction. The  set of  results obtained in  the mentioned studies, as well  as in  others not cited herein, has generally met the expectations  and also matches the worldwide tendency to seek raw  material from renewable  sources   that   leads  to   products   with  good properties.

Biography:

Dr. Lovely Mathew has completed her Ph D from Cochin University of Science and Technology in 2006. She was the  Professor of Chemistry Faculty in Newman College, Kerala since 1981. After her retirement in 2015, now she is working as a Professor and Project coordinator (Research) in Viswajyothi college of Engineering and Technology, Vazhakulam, Muvatupuzha, Kerala, India. She has published more than 20 papers in reputed international/national journals and has presented several research papers in various international conferences abroad. Her research area is natural fibre/nanocelluose reinforced polymer composites/Nanocomposites. She has completed several major research projects funded by DST, UGC KSCSTE, etc.. She is a registered guide of International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala ,India

Abstract:

A cost effective green approach has been used for the preparation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from isora fibre which is a bast fibre obtained from the bark of Helicteres isora plant. The process involves microwave liquefaction followed by persulphate treatment. CNC’s were extensively characterized by SEM, TEM, AFM, TGA WAXRD etc; to establish the morphology, aspect ratio, crystallinity, thermal stability etc. The aim of this work is to study the property enhancement of Poly butyl succinate (PBS)- hyper branched polyester polyols (HBPP) blends by adding CNC’s  at different proportions to give green composites with potential applications in areas such as food packaging and medicines.  Biodegradable (PBS) / (HBPP) blended films were processed using a brabender twin-screw compounder machine. This paper reports a single step reactive extrusion process for the fabrication of thermally stable PBS-HBPP grafted CNC’s bio nanocomposite films using dicumyl peroxide as a cross linking agent.  The effect of addition of CNC particles on the mechanical, thermal and barrier properties of PBS-HBPP blends were studied.  Spherulitic morphology, chemical structure and crystalline structure of neat PBS and PBS-HBPP blended films were examined by optical polarizing microscopy (OPM), FTIR spectroscopy and WAXRD respectively.. The addition of HBPP increased the toughness, and wettability of the film. FTIR spectroscopy studies showed that the PBS-HBPP blend was grafted on CNC through a stable C- C bond formation. This strong chemical link led to the efficient transfer of modulus of CNC’s to the PBS-HBPP blend thereby increasing the tensile strength and young’s modulus to a greater extent. Significant reduction in water vapour and oxygen permeability rates was also observed for PBS-HBPP nanocomposite over neat PBS. Experimentally, it was observed that the CNC’s wt. content, size and morphology are the parameters that substantially influence the mechanical, thermal and barrier properties of the composite samples. The surface of the nano particles act as initiators for network formation, as observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the fractured sample

Biography:

Fabio Silvestri obtained his PhD in Material Science from University of Milano-Bicocca working on organic electronics (Prof. G. A. Pagani). During the doctoral studies, he also worked at Northwestern University (Prof. T.J. Marks) and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Prof Torres) on synthesis and characterization of new materials, and as a post-doctoral fellow at ETH Zürich, in the Prof. F. Diederich group. He then moved to Dow Chemical, working on polyurethane foams, and later on he joined Trocellen as Product Development Manager. He is now Innovation Manager for Trocellen group: his focus is to find new technology driven opportunities.

Abstract:

Chemically cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) foams can be considered as a commodity material, due to the high volumes and the relatively low price compared to other polymers and foams. Furukawa Electric, the shareholder of Trocellen Group, filed the first patent on this topic in 1968, almost 50 years ago, so we are not talking about an innovative technology. However, polyethylene is still an interesting material with a lot of different application, ranging from insulation to footwear, from automotive to sport and tapes.
Our new vision is “Making a difference – shaping the future”, so we have started to think about a solution to provide a safe and comfortable future with products that make a difference.
For this reason, we have decided to develop Trocellen Bio, a new foam that anticipates a precise request from the market, giving to our customer the opportunity to decide between the normal grade and a more sustainable one. This is because with this approach we can strongly reduce the CO2 emission, something it was never done in this field, at least at industrial scale. The most important thing is we can do it without any compromise in terms of physical-mechanical properties. As you can see in Figure 1, the compression stress at 25 and 50% is the same for the foam produced with Bio-based and petrochemical based polyethylene.

The same if we consider another mechanical property, the compression set (Figure 2).

Biography:

Shuhua Zhang has completed his PhD from Harbin University of Science and Technology, and visiting studies from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a senior research scholar from September of 2013~ September of 2014. She is the associate professor of materials in polymer materials and engineering of Shanghai University of Engineering Science now. She has published more than 30 papers, an academic monographs and owned 4 authorized invention patents of China

Abstract:

In order to improve the mechanical properties of polylactic acid(PLA), PLA/MgAlCu-LDH/polyvinyl pyrrolidone(PVP) composite microsphere was successfully prepared on the basis of  seminal emulson polymerization with PLA and PVP as monomer, MgAlCu-LDH as intercalating agent. Design-Expert 8.5 software was employed to optimize the processing technology with two steps. Firstly, single factor was analyzed based on the mass fraction ratio of  MgAlCu-LDH to PLA, PVP concentration and stirring speed range being 1/15~1/8, 1~2%, 800~1200r/min, respectively. Secondly, the interaction effects of three factors were discussed according to the analysis of the software. The results show that the influence factors to microspheres size were as follows: the stirring speed > the mass fraction ratio of  MgAlCu-LDH to PLA > PVP concentration. The optimized  processing technology of microspheres indicates that the mass fraction ratio of  MgAlCu-LDH to PLA is 1/15, the concentration of  PVP is 2%, the stirring rate is 1200r/min. The structure and morphology of the dried frozen composite microsphere were characterized by XRD, FT-IR and SEM. The intercalation of part of the PLA into the gap of MgAlCu-LDH would be responsible for the new peaks on XRD spectra of MgAlCu-LDH and the disappear peaks at 1750cm^-1, 1200cm^-1 assigned to C=O on FT-IR spectra of PLA, which proves PLA/ MgAlCu-LDH/PVP composite microsphere  was successfully prepared. Interestingly, some tinny channels resulted from volatile solvent  on the surface of microsphere may be benefit for biocompatible

Biography:

Abstract:

The search for new recyclable hydrogenation catalysts stimulated the synthesis of a great deal of heterogeneous   metal-supported   catalysts(1).   In   this   context,   mainly   metallo-supramolecular polymers and block copolymers found a wide range of applications as catalyst support due to the unique possibility to tune the chemical and physical properties of the polymer backbone combined with its low cost, good performance and recyclability under real catalytic conditions(2, 3). In addition, the solubility of functionalized polymers in certain solvents, while they are insoluble in others was successfully employed to recycle the catalytic metal centers anchored to these polymers(4). Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was functionalized with nitrogen containing aromatic groups such as pyridine and asymmetric 2,2’-bipyridine at the carboxylic acid-end of the polymer chain by means of tin octanoate-catalysed ring opening polymerization(5). The obtained macroligands have been successfully employed to coordinate Pd(II), which chemoselectively hydrogenated α,β- unsaturated carbonyl compounds to give the saturated counterpart as major product (Figure 1)(6) The catalyst was easily recycled upon a simple filtration process.

Biography:

Dr. Amit Jaiswal is presently an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India. He has completed his PhD in nanotechnology from IIT Guwahati  and post-doc from Washington University in St. Louis, USA and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. His research interest is in the synthesis of nanomaterials for sensing, catalysis, drug delivery and diagnostic applications. Dr. Jaiswal has published more than 10 papers in reputed journals

Abstract:

Cationic polymers for gene delivery to cells both in-vitro and in-vivo have been studied in detail. However, studies have shown that cationic polymer such as polyethyleneimine (PEI) suffer from high cellular toxicity and poor biocompatibility. Graphene and its derivatives such as Graphene Oxide (GO) and reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) have emerged as excellent nanomaterials for biomedical applications such as drug delivery, gene delivery, cellular imaging, biosensing, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, tissue engineering etc due to their excellent physicochemical, optical and biocompatible properties.  Here, we report the synthesis of a novel non-viral nano-vector for efficient gene delivery by functionalizing rGO sheets with a water-soluble biocompatible cationic polymer Poly (allylamine hydrochloride). GO sheets synthesised by improved Hummer’s method were simultaneously reduced and functionalized by PAH to form physiologically stable rGO/PAH nanocomposites. The optical, morphological, chemical, and structural properties of these nanocomposites were characterized in detail using UV-Visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, TEM, SEM, AFM, FT-IR and XRD respectively. Gel retardation assay using pEGFP clearly demonstrated the efficient DNA binding ability of these nanocomposites, thus validating the potential of rGO/PAH to be used as a non-viral gene delivery vector.

Biography:

Abstract:

According to the global trend in the world, many studies are conducted to valorize plant biomass as materials^1,2. Plant fibers are used to reinforce composites and to enhance their properties. The lignin fraction produced by wood and paper industries, which is burnt now to produce energy³, should be valorized through chemistry for the synthesis of high value-added compound. In this work, ferulic acid and its derivatives, which can be obtained from lignin, were used to influence the aspect ratio of lignocellulosic fibers, one of the key parameters for mechanical thermoplastic's fiber reinforcement.

Two ferulic acid derivatives were synthesized by enzymatic chemistry following a green process^4,5,6 and subsequently pulverized on hemp fibers. The first derivative was a macrobisphenol while the second one was obtained after the methylation of the phenolic functions of the latter. These pretreated lignocellulosic fibers were incorporated in a polycaprolactone matrix during a single screw extrusion process. Tensile test specimens were injected and mechanical properties were measured. Chemical analysis were conducted by SEC to measure the impact of the ferulic acid derivatives on the molar mass of the matrix. Rheological analysis provided information about the plasticizing effect of the ferulic acid derivatives on the materials. Hemp fibers, ferulic acid derivatives and crude polycaprolactone were also analyzed by Raman spectroscopy to define their spectral profile⁷.

The microstructure of the composites was determined by Confocal Raman Imaging and was correlated with the mechanical properties measured by tensile tests. We evidenced that the very single methylation of the macrobisphenol led to significant differences on the mechanical properties and the structure of the composites. Two hypothesis were investigated to explain such effects: a stronger interaction between hemp fibers and ferulic acid derivative changing the microstructure and/or an increased plasticizing effect of the ferulic acid derivative on the polymeric matrix.