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Recycling and Processing of Waste Materials
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Recycling and Processing of Waste Materials

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymeric Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2023) | Viewed by 5560

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Reza Saeb

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Polymer Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: biodegradable polymers; biomaterials; materials science; polymer blends; poly-mer nanocomposites; waste management; polymer recycling; rubber recycling; green processing; sustainable polymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Aleksander Hejna

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Polymer Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: polyurethane foams; polymer composites; reactive processing; filler modification; recycling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Paulina Wiśniewska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Polymer Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, G. Narutowicza 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: rubber recycling; waste polymers; polymer composites; waste management; sustainable materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Research on the development of sustainable materials and the progressive application of recycling processes and strategies have been experiencing a worldwide growth over the last decade. In this regard, both research and industries have been attempting to develop new strategies and materials based on waste sources and renewable resources; as a result, recycling technology has developed and experienced an almost middle-age maturity period. Terms and definitions, such as materials circularity, circular economy, and life cycle assessment (LCA), are born accordingly to make the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the efficiency and performance of recycled materials and recycling techniques possible. Processing waste materials through mechanical, physical, chemical, and combined techniques are among the most common to process and convert waste materials into products with added value. In line with the growing trend in recycling and processing, as well as upcycling techniques used for the management of waste materials, we collect manuscripts related to this topic. The journal materials from MDPI invites experts to publish their ideas and research data in this Special Issue. To have a wider possibility of the publication of breakthrough ideas, we welcome Original Regular Papers, Review Papers, Perspective, Commentary, and Short Communications, as possible kinds of contributions to this Special Issue.

The followings areas are, but not limited to, the fields on which we collect manuscripts:

  • Recycling of waste materials;
  • Recycling of polymers;
  • Processing of biowastes;
  • Conversion of wastes to value-added products;
  • Upcycling of materials;
  • Circularity of waste materials;
  • Techniques of waste materials management;
  • Additive manufacturing (3D printing) of recycled polymers;
  • Developing composites and nanocomposites from waste materials;
  • Sustainability features of waste materials;
  • Waste processing and circular economy;
  • Challenging aspects of processing of waste materials.

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Reza Saeb
Dr. Aleksander Hejna
Guest Editors

Paulina Wiśniewska
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • green materials
  • sustainable materials
  • waste management
  • recycling
  • upcycling
  • secondary raw materials
  • environmental
  • polymer recycling
  • processing of wastes
  • biowaste management
  • recycled polymers
  • renewable resources
  • waste management
  • green polymers
  • sustainable materials
  • circularity of materials
  • circular economy
  • life cycle assessment

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

3 pages, 413 KiB  
Editorial
Recycling and Processing of Waste Materials
by Paulina Wiśniewska, Aleksander Hejna and Mohammad Reza Saeb
Materials 2023, 16(2), 508; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020508 - 5 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4273
Abstract
Just a few days ago, the world population, as expected, surpassed 8 billion [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Processing of Waste Materials)
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Research

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22 pages, 5367 KiB  
Article
Structure–Property Relationship and Multiple Processing Studies of Novel Bio-Based Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomers
by Joanna Smorawska, Marcin Włoch and Ewa Głowińska
Materials 2023, 16(18), 6246; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16186246 - 17 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 959
Abstract
Currently, the growing demand for polymeric materials has led to an increased need to develop effective recycling methods. This study focuses on the multiple processing of bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (bio-TPUs) as a sustainable approach for polymeric waste management through mechanical recycling. The [...] Read more.
Currently, the growing demand for polymeric materials has led to an increased need to develop effective recycling methods. This study focuses on the multiple processing of bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (bio-TPUs) as a sustainable approach for polymeric waste management through mechanical recycling. The main objective is to investigate the influence of two reprocessing cycles on selected properties of bio-TPUs. Two series of bio-based TPUs were synthesized via a solvent-free two-step method with the use of hexamethylene diisocyanate or hexamethylene diisocyanate/partially bio-based diisocyanate mixtures, bio-based poly(triamethylene ether) glycol, and bio-based 1,3 propanediol. Both the raw bio-TPUs and those subjected to two reprocessing cycles were examined with respect to their chemical, physical, thermal, thermomechanical, and mechanical properties. The conducted research revealed that reprocessing led to changes in the phase separation between the hard and soft segments, thereby affecting the bio-TPUs’ properties. Both series of materials showed similar chemical structures regardless of reprocessing (slight changes were observed in the range of carbonyl peak). The thermal properties of TPUs exhibited slight differences after each reprocessing cycle, but generally, the non-processed and reprocessed bio-TPUs were thermally stable up to about 300 °C. However, significant differences were observed in their mechanical properties. The tensile strength increased to 34% for the twice-reprocessed bio-TPUs, while the elongation at break increased by ca. 200%. On the other hand, the processing cycles resulted in a decrease in the hardness of both bio-TPU series (ca. 3–4 °ShA). As a result, the prepared bio-TPUs exhibited characteristics that were closer to those of the sustainable materials model, promoting the circular economy of plastics, with environmental benefits arising from their recyclability and their high content of bio-based monomers (78.4–78.8 wt.%). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Processing of Waste Materials)
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Review

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26 pages, 978 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in Synthesis of Graphite from Agricultural Bio-Waste Material: A Review
by Yee Wen Yap, Norsuria Mahmed, Mohd Natashah Norizan, Shayfull Zamree Abd Rahim, Midhat Nabil Ahmad Salimi, Kamrosni Abdul Razak, Ili Salwani Mohamad, Mohd Mustafa Al-Bakri Abdullah and Mohd Yusry Mohamad Yunus
Materials 2023, 16(9), 3601; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16093601 - 8 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3865
Abstract
Graphitic carbon is a valuable material that can be utilized in many fields, such as electronics, energy storage and wastewater filtration. Due to the high demand for commercial graphite, an alternative raw material with lower costs that is environmentally friendly has been explored. [...] Read more.
Graphitic carbon is a valuable material that can be utilized in many fields, such as electronics, energy storage and wastewater filtration. Due to the high demand for commercial graphite, an alternative raw material with lower costs that is environmentally friendly has been explored. Amongst these, an agricultural bio-waste material has become an option due to its highly bioactive properties, such as bioavailability, antioxidant, antimicrobial, in vitro and anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, biomass wastes usually have high organic carbon content, which has been discovered by many researchers as an alternative carbon material to produce graphite. However, there are several challenges associated with the graphite production process from biomass waste materials, such as impurities, the processing conditions and production costs. Agricultural bio-waste materials typically contain many volatiles and impurities, which can interfere with the synthesis process and reduce the quality of the graphitic carbon produced. Moreover, the processing conditions required for the synthesis of graphitic carbon from agricultural biomass waste materials are quite challenging to optimize. The temperature, pressure, catalyst used and other parameters must be carefully controlled to ensure that the desired product is obtained. Nevertheless, the use of agricultural biomass waste materials as a raw material for graphitic carbon synthesis can reduce the production costs. Improving the overall cost-effectiveness of this approach depends on many factors, including the availability and cost of the feedstock, the processing costs and the market demand for the final product. Therefore, in this review, the importance of biomass waste utilization is discussed. Various methods of synthesizing graphitic carbon are also reviewed. The discussion ranges from the conversion of biomass waste into carbon-rich feedstocks with different recent advances to the method of synthesis of graphitic carbon. The importance of utilizing agricultural biomass waste and the types of potential biomass waste carbon precursors and their pre-treatment methods are also reviewed. Finally, the gaps found in the previous research are proposed as a future research suggestion. Overall, the synthesis of graphite from agricultural bio-waste materials is a promising area of research, but more work is needed to address the challenges associated with this process and to demonstrate its viability at scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling and Processing of Waste Materials)
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