MATERIALS | BIOPLASTICS
“Importantly, the resulting polymer network can
be recycled to enable a circular economy of materi- als directly derived from biomass,” said the researchers in a paper published in ACS Central Science.
Above: Aimplas is taking part in the Preserve project to improve the performance of bioplastics
Lignin polymer Researchers at Boston College in the USA have used photocatalysis to partially depolymerise lignin and produce chemically recyclable polymers. As an inedible component of biomass, lignin has many functional groups that are attractive for chemical synthesis. Depolymerising lignin without destroying the more valuable cellulose and hemicellulose has been a significant challenge, say the researchers. Existing biomass processing procedures tend to induce extensive condensation in lignin – which hinders its chemical utilisation – or fully depolymerise lignin to make monomers that are hard to separate for subsequent synthesis. The new process takes advantage of the high selectivity of photocatalytic activation of a particu- lar bond in lignin by a chemical called TBADT. The availability of electron mediators or scavengers promotes cleavage or oxidation of this bond, respectively, enabling a high degree of control over the depolymerisation and the density of the C=O (ketone) functional group in the products. The resulting oligomers can be readily used to synthe- sise polymer networks by reactions between C=O and branched −NH2 as a dynamic covalent cross-linker.
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Slaughterhouse waste Aimplas has begun coordinating a new 13-partner European project called Ellipse – which will use slaughterhouse waste – and pulp & paper sludge – to make cost-efficient polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) for agricultural and personal care applications. It will be co-processed with other organic wastes such as sludge from the dairy industry and glycerol from the biodiesel industry. The research is funded by the European Union under the Circular Bio-based Joint Undertaking (CBE JU). It has been allocated around €5.5 million (US$6.1m) over a 48-month period. The integration of the slaughterhouse and pulp & paper waste streams as biorefinery feedstocks will help to reduce the volumes of landfilled waste, with added advantages of water recycling, de- creased soil degradation, groundwater pollution and methane emissions. The project will be able to cope with at least 100 tonnes of slaughterhouse waste and 20 tons of wastewater sludge from the pulp & paper industry. The technology will use 20,000 tons of rumen content waste and 50,000 tons of pulp & paper sludge per year. Meanwhile, the BeonNat project – of which Aimplas is a member – has demonstrated the potential of biomass to produce bioplastics. In the first stage of the project, the 16-member
consortium assessed the suitability and industrial applicability of different species, including Siberian elm, common juniper, rosemary and birch. The species were grown at six locations in Germany, Spain and Romania. The project chose six of the most promising
IMAGE: AIMPLAS
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