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Effective high-yield recycling of waste paper to well-defined future platform chemicals and carbon nanospheres was demonstrated. The developed process utilized the exceptional combined effect of microwave irradiation and dilute acid catalyst to hydrothermally degrade cellulose in waste paper. The process was evaluated for three different waste papers, brown and white paper tissues and white printing paper. Different pretreatment processes were investigated to further increase the cellulose liquefaction efficiency. By utilizing soda pretreatment, liquefaction efficiencies as high as 8896 were achieved. The obtained liquefaction products were fingerprinted by NMR and LDI-MS, while the solid residues were analyzed by XRD, SEM, TGA, and FTIR As industrial-scale microwave reactors are currently under development, the developed method displays significant potential for recycling waste paper to green platform chemicals at the industrial scale., QC 20150209

A green closed-loop water-based process for chemical recycling of starch was demonstrated. The process starts from microwave-assisted controllable starch degradation to functional chemicals and continues to utilization of the formed degradation products, glucose and levulinic acid (LA), as starch plasticizers. The degradation process and the effect of process parameters on the formed degradation products and residues were carefully fingerprinted by multiple techniques, e.g., NMR, ESI-MS, FTIR imaging, UV-vis, and SEM. The degradation process took place in three steps, proceeding from rupture of starch granules and oligosaccharide formation to further hydrolysis to glucose. Finally, at well-defined time point rapid degradation of glucose to LA and formic acid (FA) was initiated through a 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF) intermediate. 5-HMF also participated in carbonization reactions leading to formation of solid carbon spheres. Through selection of processing parameters, LA could be produced in high yield with 9596 selectivity. The results demonstrated that microwave-assisted degradation of starch leads to well-defined controllable degradation products. These products are directly reusable as plasticizers for new starch products, which suggest great opportunities for biomass and starch recycling, opening the door toward potential industrial applications., QC 20140929

Exceptionally high cellulose liquefaction yields, up to 87% as calculated from the amount of solid residue, were obtained under mild conditions by utilizing the synergistic effect of microwave radiation and acid catalysis. The effect of processing conditions on degradation products was fingerprinted by rapid laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) method. The reaction was chemo-tunable, enabling production of glucose (Glc) or levulinic acid (LeA) at significantly high selectivity and yields, the relative molar yields being up to 50 and 69%, respectively. A turning point from pure depolymerization to glucose to further degradation to levulinic acid and formic acid was observed at approximately 50% liquefaction or above 140 degrees C. This was accompanied by the formation of small amounts of solid spherical carbonized residues. The reaction was monitored by multiple analytical techniques. The high yields were connected to the ability of the process to break the strong secondary interactions in cellulose. The developed method has great potential for future production of green platform chemicals., QC 20141002

The performance of biocomposites of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-valerate) (PHBV) and sisal fibre subjected to hydrothermal tests at different temperatures above the glass transition of PHBV (T-H = 26, 36 and 46 degrees C) was evaluated in this study. The influences of both the fibre content and presence of coupling agent were focused. The water absorption capability and water diffusion rate were considered for a statistical factorial analysis. Afterwards, the physico-chemical properties of water-saturated biocomposites were assessed by Fourier-Transform Infrared Analysis, Size Exclusion Chromatography, Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Scanning Electron Microscopy. It was found that the water diffusion rate increased with both temperature and percentage of fibre, whereas the amount of absorbed water was only influenced by fibre content. The use of coupling agent was only relevant at the initial stages of the hydrothermal test, giving an increase in the diffusion rate. Although the chemical structure and thermal properties of water-saturated biocomposites remained practically intact, the physical performance was considerably affected, due to the swelling of fibres, which internally blew-up the PHBV matrix, provoking cracks and fibre detachment., QC 20141121. Updated from manuscript to article in journal.