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Polymers
Special Issues
Natural Polymer Materials and Their Derivatives Building a Sustainable Biorefinery...
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Natural Polymer Materials and Their Derivatives Building a Sustainable Biorefinery Platform

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomacromolecules, Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2023) | Viewed by 1560

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Uroš Novak

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Guest Editor
Department of Catalysis and Chemical Reaction Engineering, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: biopolymers; green chemistry; circular economy; active packaging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Lidija Čuček

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: supply networks optimization; renewable energy; process integration; sustainability assessment; sustainable technologies; circular economy
Dr. Ana Oberlintner

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Catalysis and Chemical Reaction Engineering, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: biopolymers; cellulose nanomaterials; bio(nano)composites; surface modification; biopolymers characterization
Prof. Dr. Blaz Stres

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Catalysis and Chemical Reaction Engineering, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: biopolymers; biomass

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Starch and cellulose are the most abundant natural polymers on Earth. They are readily available worldwide, are renewable, and represent potential candidates to build a sustainable biorefinery platform. Natural polymers from biomass resources present an attractive alternative to conventional synthetic polymers. Due to their renewable origin and the possibility to extract nano-sized particles and a plethora of platform chemicals, they have a substantial potential for utilization in various sectors, replacing fossil fuel refinery. Additionally, the reactivity of the surface groups in polymers can be functionalized to tailor materials according to the needs of applications.

This Special Issue invites contributions (original works as well as reviews) where natural polymer materials or their derivates present a major role in the research. Research works dealing with surface modification and evaluation of the properties are invited to be a part of this Special Issue. Furthermore, we are interested in novel and well-described applications of natural polymers and polymer-based materials, and their extension to the conversion of natural polymers and resources into manufactured goods such as packaging, pulp, textiles, and as well natural fibers, and to the chemistry used in their processing. Finally, contributions related to polymers supply chain analysis, scale-up, techno-economic and environmental analyses, technological innovation, waste management and circular economy approaches are welcomed.

Dr. Uroš Novak
Dr. Lidija Čuček
Dr. Ana Oberlintner
Prof. Dr. Blaz Stres
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • natural polymer materials
  • biorefinery
  • (nano)composites
  • chemical modification of polymers, biopolymer applications
  • scale-up
  • techno-economics
  • environmental evaluation
  • advanced modelling, simulation and optimization
  • circular economy

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 2020 KiB  
Article
Effect of Environment on Acetylated Cellulose Nanocrystal-Reinforced Biopolymers Films
by Ana Oberlintner, Blaž Likozar and Uroš Novak
Polymers 2023, 15(7), 1663; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15071663 - 27 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1209
Abstract
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were acetylated to the various parametrised degrees of substitution (DS), determined through attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) and incorporated into alginate (ALG) and chitosan (CH) film-forming solutions. An investigation of morphology with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed [...] Read more.
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were acetylated to the various parametrised degrees of substitution (DS), determined through attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) and incorporated into alginate (ALG) and chitosan (CH) film-forming solutions. An investigation of morphology with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed increased chemical compatibility with the CH matrix after acetylation, producing a smooth surface layer, while ALG mixed better with pristine CNCs. The ATR–FTIR analysis of films demonstrated inter-diffusional structural changes upon the integration of pristine/modified CNCs. Films were evaluated in terms of water contact angle (WCA), which decreased upon CNC addition in either of the biocomposite types. The H2O barrier assessed through applicative vapour transmission (WVT) rate increased with the CNC esterification in CH, but was not influenced in ALG. To evaluate the relationship between environmental humidity and mechanical properties, conditioning was applied for 48 h under controlled relative humidity (33%, 54% and 75%) prior to the evaluation of the mechanical properties and moisture content. It was observed that tensile strength was highest upon specimens being dry (25 ± 3 MPa for ALG, reinforced with neat CNCs, or 16 ± 2 MPa in the CH with CNCs, reacting to the highest DS), lowering with dewing, and the elongation at break exhibited the opposite. It is worth noting that the modification of CNCs improved the best base benchmark stress–strain performance. Lastly, (thermal) stability was assessed by means of the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) technique, suggesting a slight improvement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Polymer Materials and Their Derivatives Building a Sustainable Biorefinery Platform)
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