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Polymers
Special Issues
Cellulose and the Circular Economy
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Cellulose and the Circular Economy

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2021) | Viewed by 12105

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Nolene Byrne

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia
Interests: cellulose; biopolymers; circular design; natural polymer fibres
Dr. Rangam Rajkhowa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
Interests: silk fibre spinning and structures; silk based biomaterials; fibre powder and processing; fibre structure property correlations; advanced applications of natural fibres

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A critical component of the circular economy concept is material choice. Within this context, cellulose has reinvigorated importance for facilitating a circular economy in a variety of industries and applications. Cellulose is a fascinating natural polymer that can be extracted, functionalized, or regenerated into a variety of different products and end use applications. This is reflected in the many existing applications of cellulose materials as well as the emerging applications, expanding the already wide variety of possible cellulosic materials being increasingly reported. This Special Issue aims to connect the importance of cellulose as a key polymer to facilitate circular economy design, covering all aspects from extraction to regeneration, new applications, new processing methods, and fundamental understanding.

Dr. Nolene Byrne
Dr. Rangam Rajkhowa
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

  • Cellulose
  • Regenerated cellulose
  • Functionalized cellulose
  • Circular economy
  • Recycling

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 4194 KiB  
Article
Cellulose Beads Derived from Waste Textiles for Drug Delivery
by Beini Zeng, Xungai Wang and Nolene Byrne
Polymers 2020, 12(7), 1621; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym12071621 - 21 Jul 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3854
Abstract
Cellulose beads were successfully prepared from waste denim using a dissolution-regeneration approach with ionic liquids as the dissolving solvent. Cellulose beads with different morphologies were achieved by altering the dissolving and coagulating solvents. The morphological differences were quantified by N2 physisorption. The [...] Read more.
Cellulose beads were successfully prepared from waste denim using a dissolution-regeneration approach with ionic liquids as the dissolving solvent. Cellulose beads with different morphologies were achieved by altering the dissolving and coagulating solvents. The morphological differences were quantified by N2 physisorption. The impact of morphology on the cellulose beads’ potential application was investigated in the context of drug loading and release. The results show that the fibrous morphology showed a better loading capacity than the globular analogue due to its higher surface area and pore volume. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellulose and the Circular Economy)
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16 pages, 2499 KiB  
Article
Manufacture of Platform Chemicals from Pine Wood Polysaccharides in Media Containing Acidic Ionic Liquids
by Mar López, Carlos Vila, Valentín Santos and Juan Carlos Parajó
Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1215; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym12061215 - 27 May 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2750
Abstract
Pinus pinaster wood samples were subjected to chemical processing for manufacturing furans and organic acids from the polysaccharide fractions (cellulose and hemicellulose). The operation was performed in a single reaction stage at 180 or 190 °C, using a microwave reactor. The reaction media [...] Read more.
Pinus pinaster wood samples were subjected to chemical processing for manufacturing furans and organic acids from the polysaccharide fractions (cellulose and hemicellulose). The operation was performed in a single reaction stage at 180 or 190 °C, using a microwave reactor. The reaction media contained wood, water, methyl isobutyl ketone, and an acidic ionic liquid, which acted as a catalyst. In media catalyzed with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate, up to 60.5% pentosan conversion into furfural was achieved, but the conversions of cellulose and (galacto) glucomannan in levulinic acid were low. Improved results were achieved when AILs bearing a sulfonated alkyl chain were employed as catalysts. In media containing 1-(3-sulfopropyl)-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate as a catalyst, near quantitative conversion of pentosans into furfural was achieved at a short reaction time (7.5 min), together with 32.8% conversion of hexosans into levulinic acid. Longer reaction times improved the production of organic acids, but resulted in some furfural consumption. A similar reaction pattern was observed in experiments using 1-(3-sulfobutyl)-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate as a catalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellulose and the Circular Economy)
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Review

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14 pages, 1148 KiB  
Review
Interest of Pickering Emulsions for Sustainable Micro/Nanocellulose in Food and Cosmetic Applications
by Louise Perrin, Guillaume Gillet, Laurianne Gressin and Stephane Desobry
Polymers 2020, 12(10), 2385; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym12102385 - 16 Oct 2020
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 4738
Abstract
In the present review, natural and non-toxic particles made of micro/nanocellulose were specifically targeted as stabilizers of emulsions located at dispersed and continuous phases interfaces (called Pickering Emulsions, PEs). PEs are biphasic systems stabilized by solid particles with a recent interest in food [...] Read more.
In the present review, natural and non-toxic particles made of micro/nanocellulose were specifically targeted as stabilizers of emulsions located at dispersed and continuous phases interfaces (called Pickering Emulsions, PEs). PEs are biphasic systems stabilized by solid particles with a recent interest in food and cosmetic domains. PEs have been more and more studied in the last ten years due to their advantages compared to conventional emulsions with surfactants. PEs have already been stabilized with various types of particles and particularly cellulose. Even if some studies showed that PEs were more stable when cellulose was chemically modified, numerous other recent studies showed that unmodified micro/nanocellulose is also promising biomaterial to stabilize PEs. Micro/nanocelluloses can be extracted by various green processes from numerous agricultural wastes and co-products, as banana peels, corncob, ginkgo seed shells, lime residues, mangosteen rind, oil palm empty fruit bunches, pistachio shells, as well as wheat straw. Main green processes used to treat cellulose are grinding, high pressure homogenization, microfluidization, enzymatic hydrolysis, subcritical water, extrusion, electron beam irradiation, cryocrushing, microwaves or sonication. PEs formulated with cellulose clearly participate to a global sustainable development but, additional studies will be necessary to better understand PEs stability and improve properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellulose and the Circular Economy)
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