Search results for "Biodegradable"

Mechanical, Thermomechanical and Reprocessing Behavior of Green Composites from Biodegradable Polymer and Wood Flour

2015

The rising concerns in terms of environmental protection and the search for more versatile polymer-based materials have led to an increasing interest in the use of polymer composites filled with natural organic fillers (biodegradable and/or coming from renewable resources) as a replacement for traditional mineral inorganic fillers. At the same time, the recycling of polymers is still of fundamental importance in order to optimize the utilization of available resources, reducing the environmental impact related to the life cycle of polymer-based items. Green composites from biopolymer matrix and wood flour were prepared and the investigation focused on several issues, such as the effect of r…

Effect of adding wood flour to the physical properties of a biodegradable polymer

2008

Wood flour/polymer composites (WPC) gained a significant interest during the last decades, due to several advantages related to the use of a natural-organic filler rather than an inorganic-mineral one. However, most of the studies have been performed on composites based on polyolefin matrices. A further step is the use of biodegradable polymers instead of traditional ones. In this work, wood flour (WF), under the form of short fibers, with two different sizes (coarse and fine) was added to a corn starch based biodegradable polymer of the Mater-Bi family. The effect of WF size, WF content, thermal treatment on the mechanical properties was investigated. The tensile mechanical tests showed an…

Effect of ultraviolet and moisture action on biodegradable polymers and their blend

2020

In this work, the suitability of polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and PBAT/PLA blend samples to outdoor applications were investigated in terms of mechanical, morphological and visual properties in presence of ultraviolet action and water, finding that PLA in particular can be actually considered for such applications.

Polyethylene and Biodegradable Starch-Based Mulching Films Positively Affect Winter Melon Production in Sicily

2014

Plastic mulching is widely used in many regions of the world for growing melons. The winter melon is largely grown in the hilly countryside of the Mediterranean island of Sicily (Italy) where mulching plastic films enhance early and total yields. However, removing and disposal of polyethylene plastic mulches after use represent a major disadvantage and an environmental concern. The objective of this trial was to compare the effects of polyethylene (PE) (transparent and black) and biodegradable (black) mulching films on yield, fruit size and quality of melon grown in the open field. The trial was conducted in the north-western coast of Sicily in the province of Trapani, 250-m elevation. Melo…

An integrated Tissue Engineering approach to Human Bronchial model: Biodegradable Scaffold and Microfluidics Platform

L’ingegneria tissutale è la combinazione di cellule, materiali e metodi di ingegneria, insieme con opportuni fattori biochimici e fisico-chimici, volta a migliorare o sostituire le funzioni biologiche di tessuti danneggiati [1, 2]. A tal proposito supporti porosi e sistemi microfluidici sono utilizzati per scopi di ingegneria tissutale. Scaffold polimerici biodegradabili sono stati sfruttati come supporti strutturali per rigenerare vari tessuti quali ossa, cartilagini, nervi, legamenti, pelle e fegato. Una geometria porosa aperta con canali interconnessi è un prerequisito per la crescita cellulare ad alta densità e per un trasporto di nutrienti, ossigeno e prodotti di scarto metabolici. …

Effect of Elongational Flow and Polarity of Organomodified Clay on Morphology and Mechanical Properties of a PLA Based Nanobiocomposite

2016

Abstract In biodegradable polymer world nanobiocomposites represent a new group of materials filled with inert nanoparticles that shows very interesting properties and the biodegradability of the matrix. In this work we have studied the effect of the polarity of the organomodified montmorillonite and of the elongational flow on the morphology and the rheological and mechanical properties of a new nanobiocomposite with a matrix of biodegradable PLA based blend. The elastic modulus enhances in presence of the nanofiller and this increase is larger and larger with the increment of the orientation. The tensile strength does not show any significant change at the same level of orientation. Moreo…

Thermomechanical degradation of PLA-based nanobiocomposite

2016

Nanobiocomposites are a new class of biodegradable polymer materials with nanometric dispersion of inert particles in a biodegradable polymer matrix that show very interesting properties often very different from those of conventional- filled polymers and also biodegradability. An important issue in the applications of the biodegradable polymers is their easy degradability during processing due to the thermomechanical stress or to the presence of humidity. In this work, the thermomechanical degradation behavior of a nanobiocomposite made by a PLA-based blend and an organomodified montmorillonite has been investigated. The degradation kinetics has been followed by means of rheological, mecha…

Desarrollo y caracterización de nuevos nanobiocomposites con propiedades mejoradas mediante varios métodos de procesado de interés en envasado de ali…

2015

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo mejorar las propiedades de matrices biopoliméricas para su uso en aplicaciones de envasado de alimentos mediante el desarrollo de nanobiocompuestos utilizando diferentes metodologías de procesado o estrategias de incorporación de materiales nanoestructurados en el interior de las matrices biopoliméricas. Dos estrategias de incorporación fueron empleadas. La primera de ellas estaba basada en una pre-incorporación de los aditivos nanoestructurados, también llamados nanoaditivos, en oligómeros de ácido láctico mediante tecnologías de polimerización in situ (específicamente policondensación), dando lugar a masterbatches que, posteriormente, se mezclaban c…

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…

Ontological information system for the selection of technologies for the treatment and disposal of organic waste: engineering and educational aspects

2021

The article proves a problem of information processing in the field of the structuring of information and decision-making in environmental engineering, including education in this field. This article presents the ontology-information model that was used to systematize waste treatment equipment. The article presents the use of an ontological algorithm “Polyhedron” for engineers and teachers. The algorithm consists of integrating ontological solutions from abstract to specific. The proposed model consists of a general ontology of “waste treatment technologies selection”, “waste treatment equipment selection” and “Ontology for the analysis of scientific publications”. Users of the system can i…