Search results for " Polymer processing"

Processing and Properties of Biopolymer/Polyhydroxyalkanoates Blends

2011

In this paper, the processability and the performance of a biodegradable polymer, Mater-Bi, and of its blends with either a sample of poly (hydroxy alkanoates) (PHA) or with bacterial biomass containing PHAs were compared. Adding PHA or directly the biomass containing it allows improving the processability of the matrix. Moreover, the mechanical behaviour of the systems was compared considering two different preparation methods, namely compression and injection moulding. The injection moulded samples show poorer mechanical performances than those of the compression moulded systems. The impact strength significantly improves when PHA is added while it reduces when bacterial biomass is used i…

Biopolymeric porous structure for selective oil sorption and activity intensification of oil-degrading bacteria

2017

Oil pollution is one of the environmental concerns that are currently becoming a major issue in the petroleum industry. Among the different methods for environmental cleaning, the use of sorbents to recover the spilled oils is becoming more and more attractive because of their peculiar advantages such as reusability and recoverability of the oil. In this context, bioremediation is often considered a promising and cost-effective technology that could help a more sustainable recovery of contaminated water by using oil-degrading microorganisms. In this work, it is proposed a PCL-based biodegradable and floatable oil removal sponge, able to immobilize and increase biodegradation ability of hydr…

Polycaprolactone-based scaffold for oil-selective sorption and improvement of bacteria activity for bioremediation of polluted water: Porous PCL syst…

2017

A novel floatable and biodegradable sponge for the selective absorption of oil from water and potentially useful as cell carrier for bioremediation treatments was prepared in polycaprolactone (PCL). The eco-friendly process for fabricating the PCL sponge does not involve either synthetic routes or organic solvents, thus minimizing environmental hazard. In particular, the 3D porous materials have been prepared by mixing in the melt the polymer matrix with two water-soluble porogen agents (NaCl and PEG) and thereafter leaching the obtained PCL/NaCl/PEG composites in water. The PCL sponges here proposed are capable to remove different types of oily pollutants (up to 500 wt%), and were successf…

Solidification of Polypropylene Under Processing Conditions – Relevance of Cooling Rate, Pressure and Molecular Parameters

2012