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Polymers
Special Issues
Advanced Polymer Composites in Waste Recycling
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Advanced Polymer Composites in Waste Recycling

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Circular and Green Polymer Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 10763

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Daniela Simina Stefan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: rubber; plastic; leather materials; composite polymers; waste valorization: environmentally friendly materials; polymeric materials assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Andreea Madalina Pandele

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Advanced Polymers Group, University Politehnica Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: polymer and polymer composite films and scaffolds for biomedical application; composite membranes for wastewater treatment; coating technology; biomaterials; hybrid materials; multifunctional; polymeric surface modification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, many traditional industries have been facing important environmental issues.

Thus, the efficient waste management of plastic, rubber and leather materials has become a promising method to reduce environmental impacts as much as possible. There are some main ways of dealing with polymer waste: reuse in an unchanged form, recycling (both material and energy), and disposal (mainly in the form of landfilling or incineration).

A unique challenge is to identify smart solutions for the recovery of packaging waste and products at the end of their lifecycles to obtain new products or identify new methods of valorization. Another challenge is to obtain new environmentally friendly polymeric products.

This Special Issue aims to collect original research and reviews focused on current research trends, challenges and future perspectives in the sustainable development of novel and environmentally friendly polymeric materials.

The acceptable topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Valorization of composite polymers with rubbers, plastic and leather materials;
  • Development of environmentally friendly composite polymeric materials;
  • Management of waste of composite polymers and biopolymers;
  • Structure–property relationships in environmentally friendly materials;
  • Assessment of packaging and waste.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Simina Stefan
Prof. Dr. Andreea Madalina Pandele
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

  • waste management
  • environmentally friendly materials
  • waste valorization
  • polymeric materials assessment
  • leather materials
  • plastic
  • rubber

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 10303 KiB  
Article
Properties of Composites Based on Recycled Polypropylene and Silico-Aluminous Industrial Waste
by George-Mihail Teodorescu, Zina Vuluga, Florin Oancea, Andreea Ionita, Jenica Paceagiu, Marius Ghiurea, Cristian-Andi Nicolae, Augusta Raluca Gabor and Valentin Raditoiu
Polymers 2023, 15(11), 2545; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym15112545 - 31 May 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1327
Abstract
There is an ever-growing interest in recovering and recycling waste materials due to their hazardous nature to the environment and human health. Recently, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, disposable medical face masks have been a major source of pollution, hence [...] Read more.
There is an ever-growing interest in recovering and recycling waste materials due to their hazardous nature to the environment and human health. Recently, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, disposable medical face masks have been a major source of pollution, hence the rise in studies being conducted on how to recover and recycle this waste. At the same time, fly ash, an aluminosilicate waste, is being repurposed in various studies. The general approach to recycling these materials is to process and transform them into novel composites with potential applications in various industries. This work aims to investigate the properties of composites based on silico-aluminous industrial waste (ashes) and recycled polypropylene from disposable medical face masks and to create usefulness for these materials. Polypropylene/ash composites were prepared through melt processing methods, and samples were analyzed to get a general overview of the properties of these composites. Results showed that the polypropylene recycled from face masks used together with silico-aluminous ash can be processed through industrial melt processing methods and that the addition of only 5 wt% ash with a particle size of less than 90 µm, increases the thermal stability and the stiffness of the polypropylene matrix while maintaining its mechanical strength. Further investigations are needed to find specific applications in some industrial fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymer Composites in Waste Recycling)
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18 pages, 4318 KiB  
Article
A Comparison of Cooking Conditions of Rhizoclonium Pulp as a Substitute for Wood Pulp
by Pai-An Hwang, Song-Ling Wong and Yu-Ching Liu
Polymers 2022, 14(19), 4162; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym14194162 - 04 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1480
Abstract
The green macroalga Rhizoclonium was cooked with 5%, 10%, and 20% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for 4 h (5-N, 10-N, and 20-N groups, respectively); with 5%, 10%, and 20% sodium sulfite (Na2SO3) for 4 h (5-NS, 10-NS, and 20-NS groups, [...] Read more.
The green macroalga Rhizoclonium was cooked with 5%, 10%, and 20% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for 4 h (5-N, 10-N, and 20-N groups, respectively); with 5%, 10%, and 20% sodium sulfite (Na2SO3) for 4 h (5-NS, 10-NS, and 20-NS groups, respectively); and with 5%, 10%, and 20% NaOH for 2 h and 1% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for 2 h (5-NH, 10-NH, and 20-NH groups, respectively). The 5-NH handsheet showed the best mechanical properties; however, the 10-NH pulp was easier to separate than 5-NH during handsheet making, and 10-NH was more suitable for the industrial process. Thus, the 10-NH group showed the optimal production conditions with an optimal length/width ratio, crystallinity index (CI%), three-dimensional (3D) configuration, and mechanical strength. Substituting 20% 10-NH Rhizoclonium pulp with wood pulp had no significant effect on the mechanical properties of the 100% wood pulp handsheet. However, the fibers of the NS group were flatter and lost their 3D configuration, resulting in low mechanical strength. Overall, Rhizoclonium had its own optimal cooking condition, which was not the same as for wood pulp, and it has potential as a substitute for wood pulp in papermaking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymer Composites in Waste Recycling)
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16 pages, 5746 KiB  
Article
Advanced Collagen-Based Composites as Fertilizers Obtained by Recycling Lime Pelts Waste Resulted during Leather Manufacture
by Daniela Simina Stefan, Ana-Maria Manea-Saghin, Irene-Eva Triantaphyllidou, Ioanna Tzoumani and Irina Meghea
Polymers 2022, 14(15), 3169; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym14153169 - 03 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1432
Abstract
Recent trends in ecological agriculture practices are focused on finding optimal solutions for reuse and recycling of pelt waste from tannery industry. In this context, new collagen-based hydrogels with NPK nutrients encapsulated have been functionalized with synthetic and natural additives, including starch and [...] Read more.
Recent trends in ecological agriculture practices are focused on finding optimal solutions for reuse and recycling of pelt waste from tannery industry. In this context, new collagen-based hydrogels with NPK nutrients encapsulated have been functionalized with synthetic and natural additives, including starch and dolomite, to be used as composite fertilizers. Possible interaction mechanisms are presented in case of each synthetic or natural additive, ranging from strong linkages as a result of esterification reactions until hydrogen bonds and ionic valences. Such interactions are responsible for nutrient release towards soil and plants. These fertilizers have been adequately characterized for their physical chemical and biochemical properties, including nutrient content, and tested on three Greek poor soils and one Romanian normal soil samples. A series of agrochemical tests have been developed by evaluation of uptake and leaching of nutrients on mixtures of sand and soils. It was observed that the clay soil exhibits a higher adsorption capacity than the loam soil for most of nutrients leached from the composite fertilizers tested, with this being correlated with a slower control release towards cultivated plants, thus assuring efficiency of these collagen-based composite fertilizers. The most significant effect was obtained in the case of collagen-based fertilizer functionalized with starch. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymer Composites in Waste Recycling)
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Review

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23 pages, 4284 KiB  
Review
Methods for Natural and Synthetic Polymers Recovery from Textile Waste
by Daniela Simina Stefan, Magdalena Bosomoiu and Mircea Stefan
Polymers 2022, 14(19), 3939; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym14193939 - 21 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5784
Abstract
Trends in the textile industry show a continuous increase in the production and sale of textile materials, which in turn generates a huge amount of discarded clothing every year. This has a negative impact on the environment, on one side, by consuming resources—some [...] Read more.
Trends in the textile industry show a continuous increase in the production and sale of textile materials, which in turn generates a huge amount of discarded clothing every year. This has a negative impact on the environment, on one side, by consuming resources—some of them non-renewables (to produce synthetic polymers)—and on the other side, by polluting the environment through the emission of GHGs (greenhouse gases), the generation of microplastics, and the release of toxic chemicals in the environment (dyes, chemical reagents, etc.). When natural polymers (e.g., cellulose, protein fibers) are used for the manufacturing of clothes, the negative impact is transferred to soil pollution (e.g., by using pesticides, fertilizers). In addition, for the manufacture of clothes from natural fibers, large amounts of water are consumed for irrigation. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the consumption of clothing is expected to increase by 63%, from 62 million tonnes in 2019 to 102 million tonnes in 2030. The current article aims to review the latest technologies that are suitable for better disposal of large quantities of textile waste. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymer Composites in Waste Recycling)
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