Search Results (104)

The olive oil sector constitutes a fundamental pillar in the Mediterranean region from socio-economic and cultural perspectives. Nonetheless, it produces significant amounts of waste, leading to numerous environmental issues. These waste streams contain valuable compounds that can be recovered and utilized as inputs for various applications. This study introduces a novel value chain for olive wastes, focused on extracting lignin from olive pomace by ionic liquids and polyphenols from olive mill wastewater, which are then incorporated as hybrid nanoparticles in the formulation of an innovative starch-based biofertilizer. This biofertilizer, obtained by using residual wastewater as a source of soluble nitrogen, acting at the same time as a plasticizer for the biopolymer, was demonstrated to surpass traditional NPK biofertilizers’ efficiency, allowing for root growth and foliage in drought conditions. In order to recognize the environmental impact due to its production and align it with the technical output, the circularity and environmental performance of the proposed system were innovatively evaluated through a combination of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI). LCA results indicated that the initial upcycling process was potentially characterized by significant hot spots, primarily related to energy consumption (>0.70 kWh/kg of water) during the early processing stages. As a result, the LCA score of this preliminary version of the biofertilizer may be higher than that of conventional commercial products, due to reliance on thermal processes for water removal and the substantial contribution (56%) of lignin/polyphenol precursors to the total LCA score. Replacing energy-intensive thermal treatments with more efficient alternatives represents a critical area for improvement. The MCI value of 0.84 indicates limited potential for further enhancement. Full article

Lignin, the most abundant renewable aromatic biopolymer on Earth, is rapidly emerging as a powerful enabler of next-generation sustainable technologies. This review shifts the focus to the latest industrial breakthroughs that exploit lignin’s multifunctional properties across energy, agriculture, healthcare, and environmental sectors. Lignin-derived carbon materials are offering scalable, low-cost alternatives to critical raw materials in batteries and supercapacitors. In agriculture, lignin-based biostimulants and controlled-release fertilizers support resilient, low-impact food systems. Cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries are leveraging lignin’s antioxidant, UV-protective, and antimicrobial properties to create bio-based, clean-label products. In water purification, lignin-based adsorbents are enabling efficient and biodegradable solutions for persistent pollutants. These technological leaps are not merely incremental, they represent a paradigm shift toward a materials economy powered by renewable carbon. Backed by global sustainability roadmaps like the European Green Deal and China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, lignin is moving from industrial residue to strategic asset, driven by unprecedented investment and cross-sector collaboration. Breakthroughs in lignin upgrading, smart formulation, and application-driven design are dismantling long-standing barriers to scale, performance, and standardization. As showcased in this review, lignin is no longer just a promising biopolymer, it is a catalytic force accelerating the global transition toward circularity, climate resilience, and green industrial transformation. The future of sustainable innovation is lignin-enabled. Full article

The environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics has driven a global shift toward sustainable alternatives like biodegradable polymers, including polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), and polycaprolactone (PCL). Yet, these bioplastics often face limitations in mechanical and thermal properties, hindering broader use. Reinforcement with cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) has shown promise, yet most research focuses on conventional sources like wood pulp and cotton, neglecting agricultural residues. This review addresses the potential of maize husk, a lignocellulosic waste abundant in South Africa, as a source of CNFs. It evaluates the literature on the structure, extraction, characterisation, and integration of maize husk-derived CNFs into biodegradable polymers. The review examines the chemical composition, extraction methods, and key physicochemical properties that affect performance when blended with PLA, PBS, or PCL. However, high lignin content and heterogeneity pose extraction and dispersion challenges. Optimised maize husk CNFs can enhance the mechanical strength, barrier properties, and thermal resistance of biopolymer systems. This review highlights potential applications in packaging, biomedical, and agricultural sectors, aligning with South African bioeconomic goals. It concludes by identifying research priorities for improving compatibility and processing at an industrial scale, paving the way for maize husk CNFs as effective, locally sourced reinforcements in green material innovation. Full article

Lignin, one of the most abundant biopolymers on Earth, holds significant promise as a feedstock for applications such as resins, biofuels, foams, and carbon fibres. However, despite extensive research, lignin remains largely underutilised, with its primary use limited to combustion for energy. While lignin’s structural features are well documented, there is a lack of consistent data on its key physical properties such as density. This study addresses that gap by providing experimentally determined values for skeletal and bulk densities of lignins obtained through different extraction methods, including Kraft; soda pulping; and particularly the ionoSolv process, using ionic liquids such as N,N-dimethyl butyl ammonium hydrogen sulphate ([DMBA][HSO₄]). The results reveal correlations between lignin chemical structure and density in ionoSolv-extracted lignins from Eucalyptus Red Grandis, suggesting opportunities to tune the extraction parameters for targeted material properties. The skeletal density of the lignin samples ranged from 1.3370 to 1.4598 g/cm³, while the bulk density varied more widely—from 0.0944 to 0.5302 g/cm³—reflecting significant differences in particle packing and porosity depending on the biomass source and extraction method. These findings contribute valuable data for process design and scale-up, advancing the commercial viability of lignin-based products. Full article

Lignin, an abundant and renewable biopolymer, has gained significant attention as a sustainable modifier and building block in polymeric materials. Recent advancements highlight its potential to tailor mechanical, thermal, and barrier properties of polymers while offering a greener alternative to petroleum-based additives. This review provides an updated perspective on the incorporation of lignin into various polymer matrices, focusing on lignin modification techniques, structure–property relationships, and emerging applications. Special emphasis is given to recent innovations in lignin functionalization and its role in developing high-performance, biodegradable, and recyclable materials such as polyurethanes, epoxy resins, phenol-formaldehyde resins, lignin-modified composites, and lignin-based films, coatings, elastomers, and adhesives. These lignin-based materials are gaining attention for potential applications in construction, automated industries, packaging, textiles, wastewater treatment, footwear, supporting goods, automobiles, printing rollers, sealants, and binders. Full article

Generally, cheap and environmentally friendly biosorbent materials attract the attention of researchers and become the focus of research. Cellulose and hemicellulose come to the fore among biosorbent materials in biosorption processes. However, lignin is also a very abundant and underutilized biopolymer resource that can be preferred for biosorbent production. Lignin is an amorphous phenolic biopolymer with a structurally three-dimensional branched network structure. This biopolymer has advantages such as being available in large quantities, as well as high selectivity and sorption capacity. However, one of the biggest disadvantages is that lignin exhibits a heterogeneous structure for the balanced production of biosorbents. The structural behavior of lignin depends largely on the source and the processing conditions from which it is isolated. Today, although the use of lignin-based biosorbents is increasing, only 5% of the available lignin globally is used. This review summarized the world’s current trends, perspectives, and recent developments in lignin-based biosorbents in terms of all properties of lignin. Full article

Biopolymers are revolutionizing the materials landscape, driven by a growing demand for sustainable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based materials. Sourced from biological origins, these polymers are not only environment friendly but also present exciting solutions in healthcare, packaging, biosensors, high performance, and durable materials as alternatives to crude oil-based products. Recently, biopolymers derived from plants, such as lignin and cellulose, alongside those produced by bacteria, like polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), have captured the spotlight, drawing significant interest for their industrial and eco-friendly applications. The growing interest in biopolymers stems from their potential as sustainable, renewable materials across diverse applications. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the current advancements in plant-based and bacterial biopolymers, covering aspects of bioproduction, downstream processing, and their integration into high-performance next-generation materials. Additionally, we delve into the technical challenges of cost-effectiveness, processing, and scalability, which are critical barriers to widespread adoption. By highlighting these issues, this review aims to equip researchers in the bio-based domain with a comprehensive understanding of how plant-based and bacterial biopolymers can serve as viable alternatives to petroleum-derived materials. Ultimately, we envision a transformative shift from a linear, fossil fuel-based economy to a circular, bio-based economy, fostering more sustainable and environmentally conscious material solutions using novel biopolymers aligning with the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), responsible production and consumption (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13). Full article

In recent years, conductive polymer hydrogels based on polypyrrole (PPy) combined with electrical stimulation (ES) have emerged as a promising approach for chronic wound repair. However, in practical applications, PPy often exhibits limitations such as poor water dispersion, weak inherent conductivity and a lack of biological functionality. To address these challenges, this study proposes an innovative design of a conductive hydrogel that employs a natural biopolymer, lignin sulfonate (Lgs), as both a dispersant and dopant for PPy, while incorporating silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) to confer the hydrogel antibacterial properties. The results showed that the water dispersion of PPy was significantly improved, and the conductivity of the hydrogel was as high as 2.82 ± 0.04 mS/cm through the double conduction mechanism of PPy and Ag NPs. The hydrogel exhibited antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and the antibacterial rate could exceed 90%. In vitro tests demonstrated that the hydrogel exhibited good biocompatibility, adhesion ability (7.97 ± 0.56 kPa) and hemostatic ability. Furthermore, in vivo animal experiments showed that the hydrogel combined with ES achieved 93.71 ± 2.46% wound closure within 14 days, which can significantly accelerate wound healing, promote collagen deposition and epithelial tissue regeneration. These findings demonstrate that the developed hydrogel can serve as an effective platform for ES-assisted chronic wound repair. Full article

During the conventional biomass fractionation, the degradation and dissolution of lignin and hemicellulose result in a complex extract which remains very challenging for the thorough separation and purification of a wide variety of fractionated products, limiting their further utilization. Herein, we proposed a facile and efficient strategy for fractionating biomass and simultaneously in situ converting of both lignin and hemicellulose into single products using a formic acid–phloroglucinol system. The introduced phloroglucinol could react with lignin fragments and hemicellulose-derived products, and the generated intermediate product from hemicellulose can be further condensed with lignin fragments, finally forming single lignin-based functional biopolymers containing heterocyclic structures. Only small amounts of hemicellulosic derivatives, such as oligosaccharides, monosaccharides, furfural, and 5-HMF, were detected in the extracted solution, indicating a highly directional and effective in situ conversion process of hemicellulose. The constructed specific structures on fabric surfaces by using the chelation between lignin-based functional biopolymers and metal ions achieved the preparation of functional fabrics with stable hydrophobicity. The dynamic contact angle of water droplets on the surface of prepared fabric only decreased from 122° to 116.8° over 30 min. This work strategy provides an ideal route to maximize the utilization of both lignin and hemicellulose without involving complex separation and purification procedures. This strategy is the first demonstration of using the targeted fractionation system to achieve the simultaneous conversion of hemicellulose and lignin into single functional biopolymers directly from lignocellulosic biomass. Full article

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is derived from sugar-based materials. While it is a leading sustainable biopolymer, PLA has been integrated with other agricultural coproducts (e.g., lignin, protein, and starch) to reduce its cost and enhance its modulus and biodegradability. Cottonseed oil and meal are the byproducts of the cotton fiber industry. In this work, four biocomposites were formulated with PLA, cottonseed oil, washed cottonseed meal, and plasticizing reagent glycerol with different formulation ratios. The thermal degradation behaviors were examined via thermogravimetric (TG) analysis under air and nitrogen conditions with the neat PLA sample as a control. The thermal decomposition characteristic values were impacted by both the biocomposite formulation and the heating rates of 1, 2, 5, and 10 °C min⁻¹. Results from two kinetic modeling methods that were examined indicated that the activation energy was relatively steady for the neat PLA in the whole degradation process. Generally, the low activation energy values of biocomposites other than PLA under nitrogen conditions implied that these cottonseed byproduct constituents promote the thermal decomposition of these biocomposites. However, the presence of oxygen would confound the thermal decomposition of the biocomposites, as shown by variable activation energy curves with higher values under air conditions. TG-FTIR analysis revealed that the major gaseous compounds were carbonyl, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and water, which were derived from the thermal decomposition of the biocomposites. Full article

Neurodegenerative disorders present significant therapeutic challenges, particularly due to the complex nature of drug delivery to the central nervous system. This review investigates the applications of various biopolymers in neuroprotection and their potential role in treating neurodegeneration. We present a critical analysis of natural and synthetic biopolymers, focusing primarily on chitosan, fish collagen/gelatin, and alginate as key therapeutic agents. The review examines the fundamental mechanisms of brain development and neurodegeneration, establishing a framework for understanding how these biopolymers interact with neural tissues. By analyzing recent experimental studies, we evaluate the effectiveness of different biopolymer-based delivery systems in crossing the blood–brain barrier and their subsequent neuroprotective effects. Additionally, promising materials, including lignin, poly lactic-co-glycolic acid, and glucose-modified bovine serum albumin/procyanidin complexes, are briefly explored to provide a comprehensive overview of current developments in the field. Our analysis reveals that biopolymer-based approaches offer unique advantages in both neuroprotection and drug delivery, potentially opening new avenues for treating neurodegenerative conditions. This review synthesizes current knowledge and identifies promising directions for future research in biopolymer-based therapeutic strategies. Full article

The growing interest in developing antibacterial textiles using natural functional agents is largely driven by their sustainable and eco-friendly attributes. Lignin, a highly available biopolymer with a polyphenolic structure, has drawn attention due to its potential as a bioactive antibacterial agent. However, its inherent heterogeneity poses challenges, particularly regarding its antibacterial efficacy. In this study, unmodified kraft lignin sourced directly from the paper industry was applied to cotton and polyester fabrics, using a knife-coating technique with varying concentrations (0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30% w/v), to assess its potential as an antibacterial coating. The lignin-coated fabrics demonstrated hydrophobic properties, with water contact angles reaching up to 110.3° and 112.6°, for polyester and cotton fabrics, respectively, alongside significantly reduced air permeability and water vapor permeability indexes, regardless of lignin concentration. Antibacterial evaluations also revealed that lignin-based coatings, with at least 10% w/v concentration, allowed cotton fabrics with a bacterial reduction surpassing 96%, according to ASTM E2149-2013, particularly for Gram-positive S. aureus, highlighting the potential of lignin as an antibacterial agent. Despite their limited resistance to domestic washing, the lignin-coated fabrics demonstrated exceptional stability under hot-pressing conditions. Therefore, this stability, combined with the hydrophobic and antibacterial properties observed, particularly on coated cotton fabrics, highlights the potential application of lignin-based coatings for the development of antibacterial and water-repellent textiles, with these coatings being particularly suited for single-use applications or scenarios where washing resistance is not a requirement. This approach offers a sustainable and efficient method for producing functional textiles while enabling value-added utilization of lignin, showcasing its potential as an eco-friendly solution in textile functionalization. Full article

In line with environmental awareness movements and social concerns, the textile industry is prioritizing sustainability in its strategic planning, product decisions, and brand initiatives. The use of non-biodegradable materials, obtained from non-renewable sources, contributes heavily to environmental pollution throughout the textile production chain. As sustainable alternatives, considerable efforts are being made to incorporate biodegradable biopolymers derived from residual biomass, with reasonable production costs, to replace or reduce the use of synthetic petrochemical-based polymers. However, the commercial deployment of these biopolymers is dependent on high biomass availability and a cost-effective supply. Residual forest biomass, with lignocellulosic composition and seasonably available at low cost, constitutes an attractive renewable resource that might be used as raw material. Thus, this review aims at carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature on the use of residual forest biomass as a source of new biomaterials for the textile industry, identifying current gaps or problems. Three specific biopolymers are considered: lignin that is recovered from forest biomass, and the bacterial biopolymers poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) and bacterial cellulose (BC), which can be produced from sugar-rich hydrolysates derived from the polysaccharide fractions of forest biomass. Lignin, PHA, and BC can find use in textile applications, for example, to develop fibers or technical textiles, thus replacing the currently used synthetic materials. This approach will considerably contribute to improving the sustainability of the textile industry by reducing the amount of non-biodegradable materials upon disposal of textiles, reducing their environmental impact. Moreover, the integration of residual forest biomass as renewable raw material to produce advanced biomaterials for the textile industry is consistent with the principles of the circular economy and the bioeconomy and offers potential for the development of innovative materials for this industry. Full article

This article describes the basics of chemical thermodynamics and its application to the study of plant biomass and its main components, cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, etc. The energy potential of various biomass types, as well as biomass-based solid, liquid, and gaseous biofuels, is determined. A method of additive contributions of combustion enthalpies of main components is proposed to calculate the combustion enthalpy of biomass samples. It is also established that the potential of thermal energy of the initial biomass is higher than the energy potential of secondary biofuels released from this biomass. The thermodynamic functions of plant biopolymers are calculated. Moreover, the thermodynamic stability of various crystalline allomorphs of cellulose and amorphous cellulose is studied. The melting enthalpies of crystallites with different types of crystalline structures are estimated. A thermochemical method for determining the degree of crystallinity of cellulose is proposed. The most important biomass components are cellulose and other polysaccharides. The thermodynamics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of polysaccharides and their conversion into glucose are described. In addition, the thermodynamic analysis of the conversion process of glucose into bioethanol is performed. Considerable attention is also paid to the thermochemistry of cellulose alkalization, etherification, and esterification. Full article

Lignin is one of the three major components of the cell wall of lignocellulosic biomaterials. It is the second-most abundant polymer in nature. It is a complex and heterogeneous polymer found in the cell walls of lignocellulosic biomass. Lignin’s predominant composition, which is rich in carbon and aromatic structures, enhances its value by enabling the development of high-value chemicals and bio-based materials. As one of the most affluent natural renewable sources of aromatic structures and the world’s second-largest renewable source of carbon, lignin possesses a thermal value comparable to that of carbon. Its aromatic constituents exhibit unique chemical properties and significant bioactive effects, making lignin a crucial material in various advanced applications. Different chemical fractionation methods have been designed to overcome the obstacles to extracting the lignin biopolymer from lignocellulosic biomass. Lignin fractionation is a process that involves separating lignin from other components of biomass feedstock, such as cellulose and hemicellulose. This process is commonly used in the paper and pulp industry to obtain valuable lignin derivatives that can be used in various applications, including, among others, biofuels, chemicals, and biomaterials. In the brief overview described in this proceedings paper, we provide a comprehensive chemical overview of the current processes for extracting technical lignin from wood and lignocellulosic biomass, critically evaluating the advantages and limitations of each method. Full article