Bioeconomy - present status and future needs of industrial value chains

The necessary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions requires a comprehensive shift from fossil to renewable raw materials. This is accompanied by a fundamental reorganization of the value chains of the energy sectors and large parts of the manufacturing industry. In the long term, bio-based industrial raw materials will be processed preferentially by the chemical industry. In order to use the raw materials as fully as possible, sectors that support cascade use and the recycling of by-products and products after use will gain in importance. These are in particular the waste management and energy sectors, which will be integrated into the circular value chains of the bioeconomy. The industrial realization of these value chains depends essentially on the legal framework conditions, which must be developed further accordingly.

Rheological and Mechanical Behavior of Silk Fibroin Reinforced Waterborne Polyurethane

Waterborne polyurethane (WPU) is a versatile and environment-friendly material with growing applications in both industry and academia. Silk fibroin (SF) is an attractive material known for its structural, biological and hemocompatible properties. The SF reinforced waterborne polyurethane (WPU) is a promising scaffold material for tissue engineering applications. In this work, we report synthesis and characterization of a novel nanocomposite using SF reinforced WPU. The rheological behaviors of WPU and WPU-SF dispersions with different solid contents were investigated with steady shear and dynamic oscillatory tests to evaluate the formation of the cross-linked gel structure. The average particle size and the zeta potential of WPU-SF dispersions with different SF content were examined at 25 °C to investigate the interaction between SF and WPU. FTIR, SEM, TEM and tensile testing were performed to study the effects of SF content on the structural morphology and mechanical properties of the resultant composite films. Experimental results revealed formation of gel network in the WPU dispersions at solid contents more than 17 wt %. The conjugate reaction between the WPU and SF as well as the hydrogen bond between them helped in dispersing the SF powder into the WPU matrix as small aggregates. Addition of SF to the WPU also improved the Young's modulus from 0.30 to 3.91 MPa, tensile strength from 0.56 to 8.94 MPa, and elongation at break from 1067% to 2480%, as SF was increased up to 5 wt %. Thus, significant strengthening and toughening can be achieved by introducing SF powder into the WPU formulations.

Bio-Based Bisfuran: Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Low Molecular Weight Amorphous Polyester

Discovery of renewable monomer feedstocks for fabrication of polymeric demand is critical in achieving sustainable materials. In the present work we have synthesized bisfuran diol (BFD) monomer from furfural, over four steps. BFD was examined via X-ray crystallography to understand the molecular arrangement in space, hydrogen bonding and packing of the molecules. This data was further used to compare BFD with structurally related Bisphenol A (BPA), and its known derivatives to predict the potential estrogenic or anti-estrogenic activities in BFD. Further, BFD was reacted with succinic acid to generate polyester material, bisfuran polyester (BFPE-1). MALDI characterization of BFPE-1 indicates low molecular weight polyester and thermal analysis reveals amorphous nature of the material.