Polymers for Recycling and Valorization of Soft and Hard Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability and efficient use of industrial waste as a raw material for valorization has become the utmost important step for future product development. Many industries face major challenges in complying with minimum environmental demands, while simultaneously others produce vast amounts of biobased co-products, often in the form of waste. Consequently, new research focuses on using these bio-based co-products (primarily polymers) to develop materials with functional properties, thereby reinserting them in the energy cycle with a new purpose. An advantage of using polymeric raw materials obtained from industrial streams is that they are already available in large amounts, facilitating research upscaling. Recent examples of high-potential polymers are proteins and cellulose fractions obtained from co-products of the agricultural and animal industries. The above strategy is a powerful pathway for a cradle-to-cradle sustainable approach (waste-to-product) and provides synergy in various research fields with vast bioeconomic interest.  Potential research fields where important sustainability issues are to be addressed include (but are not limited to): use of biopolymers as superabsorbents (e.g., sanitary articles), polymers as components to recycle and valorize waste materials (e.g., battery recycling), and water purification (e.g., ion-sieve).

The Special Issue, entitled “Polymers for Recycling and Valorization of Soft and Hard Materials,” would serve as a platform for pipeline research focusing on spent polymeric materials used to produce new functional and sustainable soft/hard products. The Special Issue also covers the development of products using polymers from industrial streams for maximizing resource efficiency. Research using polymers as intermediates for developing more efficient recycling methods and processes for valorizing soft and hard materials will also be considered within the Special issue.

Dr. Antonio Capezza
Dr. Víctor Manuel Pérez Puyana
Dr. Xiong Xiao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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