Interest in nanofibrillated cellulose has been increasing exponentially because of its relatively ease of preparation in high yield, high specific surface area, high strength and stiffness, low weight and biodegradability etc. This biobased nanomaterial has been used mainly in nanocomposites due to its outstanding reinforcing potential. Solvent casting, melt mixing, in situ polymerization and electrospinning are important techniques for the fabrication of nanofibrillated cellulose-based nanocomposites. Due to hydrophilic character along with inherent tendency to form strong network held through hydrogen-bonding, nanofibrillated cellulose cannot uniformly be dispersed in most non-polar polymer matrices. Therefore, surface modification based on polymer grafting, coupling agents, acetylation and cationic modification was used in order to improve compatibility and homogeneous dispersion within polymer matrices. Nanofibrillated cellulose opens the way towards intense and promising research with expanding area of potential applications, including nanocomposite materials, paper and paperboard additive, biomedical applications and as adsorbent.
High molecular weight, amorphous poly(propylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate) has been aged at 135°C for different times. The crystal phase contributes to achieve exceptionally low oxygen transmission rates and also good impermeability to water vapors, making PPF one of the most interesting fully biobased polyesters for packaging applications. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthesis of PPF, film preparation and ageing experiments are provided. 1 H NMR, DSC, WAXD and DMTA characterization, density and permeability measurements are described. See
Agricultural waste is a huge pool of untapped biomass resources that may even represent economic and environmental burdens. They can be converted into bioenergy and bio-based products by cascading conversion processes, within circular economy, and should be considered residual resources. Major challenges are discussed from a transdisciplinary perspective, focused on Europe situation. Environmental and economic consequences of agricultural residue management chains are difficult to assess due to their complexity, seasonality and regionality. Designing multi-criteria decision support tools, applicable at an early-stage of research, is discussed. Improvement of Anaerobic Digestion (AD), one of the most mature conversion technologies, is discussed from a technological point of view and waste feedstock geographical and seasonal variations. Using agricultural residual resources for producing high-value chemicals is a considerable challenge analysed here, taking into account innovative eco-efficient and cost-effective cascading conversion processes (bio-refinery concept). Moreover, the promotion of agricultural residuesbased business is discussed through industrial ecology, to promote synergy, on a local basis, between different agricultural and industrial value chains. Finally, to facilitate a holistic approach and optimise materials and knowledge flows KEY WORDS Agriculture; waste; eco-design; biogas; bio-based materials; circular economy CONTACT Nathalie Gontard nathalie.gontard@inra.fr UMR 1208 IATE Agro-Polymer Engineering and Emerging Technologies,
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