Isamar Rosa¹, Henning Roedel¹, Maria I. Allende¹, Michael D. Lepech^1,*, David J. Loftus²

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.8, pp. 845-861, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09844

Abstract Biopolymer-bound Soil Composites (BSC), are a novel bio-based construction material class, produced through the mixture and desiccation of biopolymers with inorganic aggregates with applications in soil stabilization, brick creation and in situ construction on Earth and space. This paper introduces a mixture design methodology to produce maximum strength for a given soil-biopolymer combination. Twenty protein and sand mix designs were investigated, with varying amounts of biopolymer solution and compaction regimes during manufacture. The ultimate compressive strength, density, and shrinkage of BSC samples are reported. It is observed that the compressive strength of BSC materials increases proportional to tighter particle packing… More >

T. Côto¹, I. Moura¹, A. de Sá^1,*, C. Vilarinho², A. V. Machado¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.6, No.7, pp. 688-696, 2018, DOI:10.32604/JRM.2018.00006

Abstract Biopolymers exhibit unique properties and can be produced from plants’ and crops’ wastes. Cellulose has been used for the production of sustainable materials, nevertheless due to the difficulty inherent to its extraction, several methods have been studied in order to optimize the process. Therefore, this paper reports the extraction of natural polymers from food sector agro-food wastes, including cellulose, following a green chemistry aproach. The cellulose extracted from pumpkin peel was acetylated and dispersed in a polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. The developed materials were characterized in terms of their structure, morphology and thermal stability. The results demonstrated the efficient chemical… More >