Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
8.0
4.7
Journals
Polymers
Special Issues
Recycling of Polymer Materials
polymers-logo
Submit to Polymers Review for Polymers Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Recycling of Polymer Materials

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 (25 May 2024) | Viewed by 2976

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ho-Shing Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, 135 Yuan-Tung Road, Chung-Li, Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan
Interests: catalytic reaction; polymer recycling; biochemical engineering; process design using ASPEN
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Plastics are an integral component of our modern lives due to their wide range of applications in households and industry. There is an increasing interest in the use of plastics as raw materials due to their ease of handling, transparency, and cost effectiveness. The quest for circular and sustainable approaches to material recycling is one of the most demanding for several reasons. However, there have recently been several breakthroughs in the reuse and recycling of materials.

Depending on the method used, polymer waste recycling can be classified as mechanical, chemical, or biological. For example, polymer waste from thermoplastics, thermosets, and elastomers of polymeric materials is not very degradable, thus requiring mechanical recycling. Polymer materials include polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, nylon, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyurethane rubber, composites, and polymers, and are often found in the electronics and semiconductor industries, among others. 

Prof. Dr. Ho-Shing Wu
Guest Editor

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

  • circular economy
  • energy recovery
  • chemical recycling
  • mechanical recycling
  • feedstock recycling
  • sustainable materials processing
  • process modelling
  • economic analysis

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 4300 KiB  
Article
Composition and Workability of Plastic Fractions Recovered from Commingled Waste Discarded by a Composting Plant
by Claudio Badini, Oxana Ostrovskaya, Giulia Bernagozzi and Andrea Artusio
Polymers 2023, 15(7), 1690; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15071690 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1587
Abstract
This paper deals with the recovery of plastic fractions from waste discarded by an industrial composting plant that processes the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Polymeric fractions (PE, PP and PET) were sorted from this discarded waste using a NIR separator. The [...] Read more.
This paper deals with the recovery of plastic fractions from waste discarded by an industrial composting plant that processes the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Polymeric fractions (PE, PP and PET) were sorted from this discarded waste using a NIR separator. The polymeric fractions were then washed to remove residual contaminants and characterized with the aim of assessing their composition. A process of pelletizing and injection molding suitable for producing specimens made of 100% of these recovered materials was set up. The tensile strength and stiffness, as well as the microstructure of the recycled plastics, were investigated. The mechanical features of samples fully made of recycled PE and PP were like those characteristic of virgin polymers. Samples made of PET did not show completely satisfactory properties, as they displayed rather poor elastic modulus and ductility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling of Polymer Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

17 pages, 2325 KiB  
Review
A Valuable Source of Promising Extremophiles in Microbial Plastic Degradation
by Van Hong Thi Pham, Jaisoo Kim and Soonwoong Chang
Polymers 2024, 16(15), 2109; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16152109 - 24 Jul 2024
Viewed by 700
Abstract
Plastics have accumulated in open environments, such as oceans, rivers, and land, for centuries, but their effect has been of concern for only decades. Plastic pollution is a global challenge at the forefront of public awareness worldwide due to its negative effects on [...] Read more.
Plastics have accumulated in open environments, such as oceans, rivers, and land, for centuries, but their effect has been of concern for only decades. Plastic pollution is a global challenge at the forefront of public awareness worldwide due to its negative effects on ecological systems, animals, human health, and national economies. Therefore, interest has increased regarding specific circular economies for the development of plastic production and the investigation of green technologies for plastic degradation after use on an appropriate timescale. Moreover, biodegradable plastics have been found to contain potential new hazards compared with conventional plastics due to the physicochemical properties of the polymers involved. Recently, plastic biodegradation was defined as microbial conversion using functional microorganisms and their enzymatic systems. This is a promising strategy for depolymerizing organic components into carbon dioxide, methane, water, new biomass, and other higher value bioproducts under both oxic and anoxic conditions. This study reviews microplastic pollution, the negative consequences of plastic use, and the current technologies used for plastic degradation and biodegradation mediated by microorganisms with their drawbacks; in particular, the important and questionable role of extremophilic multi-enzyme-producing bacteria in synergistic systems of plastic decomposition is discussed. This study emphasizes the key points for enhancing the plastic degradation process using extremophiles, such as cell hydrophobicity, amyloid protein, and other relevant factors. Bioprospecting for novel mechanisms with unknown information about the bioproducts produced during the plastic degradation process is also mentioned in this review with the significant goals of CO2 evolution and increasing H2/CH4 production in the future. Based on the potential factors that were analyzed, there may be new ideas for in vitro isolation techniques for unculturable/multiple-enzyme-producing bacteria and extremophiles from various polluted environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling of Polymer Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop