Advances in Biodegradable Polymeric Materials with Applications in the Food Industry
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 February 2024) | Viewed by 34065
Special Issue Editors
Interests: applied chemistry; analytical instrumental analysis; food analysis; advanced materials with ecological footprint; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: chemistry; analytical chemistry; nanomaterials; bio based materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plastics used in the manufacture of packaging materials have become an important segment for the food industry due to their characteristics and low production costs. In the last several decades, companies in the food chain (producers, retailers, etc.) oriented towards a longer shelf life, and this generated a significant increase of the demand for food packaging. In addition, the use of petroleum-based plastics has led to environmental problems because of low rates of the recycling and reuse processes on one hand, and the high half-life of these polymeric materials on the other.
Alternatives to oil-based polymers which are currently being explored include biopolymer materials and bio-based composites that can degrade easily after use. According to their composition, biopolymers may be classified into three categories: i. polymers incorporating biomass; ii. polymers synthesized from bio-derived monomers; and iii. biopolymers produced by living organisms. The global efforts put into creating new polymeric materials for the highly consuming food industry are closely combined with the attempts to maintain and improve the quality in the field. In this respect, the restrictive regulations translate into the need of desired physical, thermal, mechanical and chemical properties, which need to be characterized through advanced instrumental techniques.
Dr. Cristina Mihaela Nicolescu
Dr. Marius Bumbac
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- biopolymers
- food packaging
- bio-based composites
- biodegradability
- advanced techniques for polymeric materials characterization
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