Biodegradable Polymers, Blends and Biocomposites: Trends and Applications

Biobased biodegradable polymers are emerging as an alternative to fossil fuel-based plastics. Biodegradable Polymers, Blends and Biocomposites: Trends and Applications discusses trends in the development of microbial/other renewable source-based bioplastic products, their blends and biocomposites applications in various industrial fields. It covers biodegradable polymeric materials preparation, extraction, formulation, modification of properties, product development and applications and end-of-life options. Furthermore, the book discusses topics like bioplastic resources, isolation procedures, utilization at commercial level and markets and economy.

Features:

• Explains emerging application possibilities of biobased biodegradable polymers.

• Provides detailed application notes on agricultural waste-based bioplastics.

• Covers microbial and agro-based biocomposites and their applications.

• Summarizes bioplastic degradation and blending research.

• Discusses application possibilities of biobased biodegradable polymers.

The book is aimed at researchers and graduate students in polymers and composites.

Chapters 5, 6 and 11 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

A. Arun is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Microbiology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamilnadu, India. His research team is working on bioplastic, bioenergy, microbial fuel cells, bioremediation, biomass and bioactive compounds. He has vast experience in the field, having published several research articles and book chapters in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, he received many significant research projects and two consultancy projects, including one Indo‑China project funded under SPARC by MHRD, India, for around five crores of Indian rupees. Moreover, he has a proven track record of technical achievements with over 100 journal publications with a cumulative impact factor of 415, 1959 citations, 26 h‑index, 50 i10 index, and 1 filed patent application.

Kunyu Zhang is a Senior Scientist at Petrochemical Research Institute, Petro China Company Limited, China. Before this position, he was an Associate Professor at the Tianjin University, China. He had 20 years of experience in polymer science: chemistry/process/application and contributed to research in the following topics: sustainable polymer, biocomposite, high-performance polymer synthesis and processing. He has a proven track record of technical achievements with 38 journal publications, receiving over 1400 citations and ten filed patent applications.

Sudhakar Muniyasamy is a Principal Scientist currently leading research and development on sustainable biobased biodegradable plastics at the CSIR-Chemicals, South Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Science from the University of Pisa, Italy. He is a research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. Before this position, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Guelph, Canada. His current research activity mainly focuses on developing sustainable, biodegradable plastics from renewable resources and studying end-of-life options such as recyclability, biodegradation and composting and verifying the environmental claims for biobased products. He has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed papers in the fields of biobased polymers and biodegradation.

Rathinam Raja is working as a Professor at Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH), BIHER, Chromepet, Chennai, India. He pursued his Ph.D. (microalgae) at the University of Madras in 2004. After that, he completed his postdoctoral research at IIT Madras for two years. He also worked for a few years as a Lead Scientist at Aquatic Energy LLC, Louisiana. Previously, he worked in Taiwan, South Korea and Portugal for over a decade. As a result, Dr. Raja has published 38 international articles and 14 book chapters and edited four books.