628 research outputs found
Biobased materials for skin-contact products promoted by POLYBIOSKIN project
No full textThe skin is the body outermost tissue and acts as a barrier and defense line to protect our organs [...]
Chitin and lignin waste in the circular economy
No full textFood and packaging waste, produced by food industries and consumers, cause an increasing pollution if not correctly managed. Recycling opportunities must be exploited to maintain our health and wellbeing, preserving the planet' natural raw materials and biodiversity for the future generations. Thus, the necessity to transform the linear economy, cause of people inequality and waste, in a circular economy based on economic prosperity, cultural vitality, social equity and environmental sustainability. For a sustainable community development, it will be necessary to recycle the industrial and agricultural waste and redesign and manufacture new products taking into account their end of life management and considering, through Life Cycle Assessment investigations, to maintain a low consume of energy and water. Among the different waste materials recovered worldwide, chitin and lignin, obtainable from food and agroforestry by-products respectively, represent the greatest source of natural raw materials available at low cost and underutilized. By many studies it has been shown that both chitin, lignin and the relative complexes, may be electro-spun with other natural polysaccharides to obtain antibacterial, immunomodulant, antioxidant and skin-repairing non-woven tissues. These innovative tissues, embedded by selected active ingredients, may be used to make facial beauty masks and/or advanced medications
Le sacred waters di Leslie Marmon Silko
No full textIn Sacred Water, Leslie Marmon Silko's collection of 41 short pieces and 39 black and white photographs, water is the thread guiding the author through a ritual and a celebration. The water stories form a collective story. They bond with the innumerable narrations of Indian land which speak of the landscape as a direct manifestation of time's cyclical continuity and cohesion
Biobased and biodegradable rigid and flexible polymeric packaging
No full textThe present chapter is dedicated to the potentialities and opportunities of biobased and biodegradable polymeric materials currently available on the market for producing packaging. After some definitions considering regulatory and standardization aspects, these materials are described and classified. Biopolyesters and biopolymers are mainly used for these products in the form of blends or biocomposites, often in combination with additives based on biobased molecules. For flexible packaging blown film extrusion or flat die extrusion of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based materials or starch based materials are currently the main options on the market. For rigid packaging, obtained mainly by injection molding or thermoforming, PLA blends or composites are the more promising alternatives, because of their good balance of properties and cost. The control of their processability and final properties is thus fundamental
Polymeric Substrates Modification with Biobased Functional Compounds
No full textEditorial to the Special Issue "Polymeric Substrates Modification with Biobased Functional Compounds
An introduction to the circular economy
No full textThis book tries to debate on the significance of circular economy, underlying the necessity to change our way of producing, consuming, and traveling on a daily basis. The passage from a linear economy to a circular economy will help us to reduce the degradation of the environment for avoiding future disastrous consequences, such as depletion of biodiversity, scarcity of raw materials and drinking water, rising waters, etc. The circular economy, therefore, involves designing a product so that it can be recycled or its components reused. Reuse consists of introducing the product back into the economic circuit in its original condition; repair makes it possible to fix a broken good; and recovery consists of reusing its components. This is the significance of the so-called 3R strategy, illustrated in this book
Structure and properties of extruded composites based on bio-polyesters and nano-chitin
No full textA renewable feedstock on a worldwide scale is chitin waste material from the seafood industry, exceeding 25 billion tons/year. Recently, it has become possible to produce pure chitin crystals, named “chitin nanofibrils” (CN) for their needle-like shape and nanostructured average size 1. The CN are thus available on an industrial scale in water suspension.
Biodegradable polyesters, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) are widely investigated for their potential applications in many sectors. The preparation of CN composites can result in improved mechanical and antimicrobial properties. These composites were melt extruded to achieve a good level of dispersion by employing suitable plasticizers to pre-disperse NC. The complete removal of water from the plasticizer/NC pre-composite was essential to avoid chain scission2 in the successive extrusion step. The electron microscopy investigation of materials showed the absence of micrometric agglomerates thanks to the adopted preparation method. The effect of plasticization, crystallinity evolution and reinforcement were kept into account to rationalize the results of tensile and DSC tests.
(1) P. Morganti, G. Morganti, A. Morganti, Nanotechnology, Science and Applications, 2011:4 123–129
(2) F. Signori, M. B. Coltelli, S. Bronco, Polymer Degradation and Stability 2009: 94 74–82
Aknowledgements: Authors acknowledge the financial support of EC Seventh Framework Programme, SME-2012-1, grant agreement n° 315233, n-Chitopack project
Reconstruction of Etna effusive activity of the past 15 ka and implication for long-term eruptive behaviour of the volcano
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Influence of the transesterification catalyst structure on the reactive compatibilization and properties of poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/dibutyl succinate functionalized poly(ethylene) blends
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