Bio-Based Materials for Eco-Efficient Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on bio-based materials, which are a type of sustainable materials that are biodegradable and created from biomass. Materials have often only included advancements, such as plastic, synthetic fibers, and fossil fuels, which at the time, enhanced cost, performance, and convenience. However, there is a need to address the damage that these conventional materials cause to the environment. Recent advancements in the sustainability field have demonstrated their ability to not only reverse this adverse effect but also positively affect the environment. As biotechnology and biomass are widely used in the production of goods, energy, and resources, our economy will soon transition to a bioeconomy. Corporations must commit to using bio-based, reusable, and biodegradable products and take a stand against the utilization of single-use plastic for this to become a reality.

This Special Issue will address questions, such as "Why utilize bio-based materials?" Fundamentally, there are two main causes. The first is that oil will eventually run out, necessitating the search for substitute raw materials. The second is the requirement to lessen industry's impact on the environment and our use of natural resources. Although industry is sometimes viewed as a significant polluter, industrial pollution has significantly decreased over the past 30 years in most Western European countries. The fundamental cause of this is advancements in technology. However, the lofty goal set by the EU to lead the world in tackling climate change will not be accomplished with present technologies. One of the most promising new strategies for resource preservation and pollution avoidance is the development of a bio-based economy, which might help us achieve the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and combating climate change.

Cleaner manufacturing techniques, renewable resources, and products are offered by bio-based materials. They provide a practical strategy for addressing pressing global requirements, such as lowering dependency on petroleum in a sustainable fashion, on the necessary scale, and with the available resources. All throughout the world, consumers, governments, and investors are realizing this. This Special Issue's goal is to connect higher-education institutions, small and medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, research institutes, and entrepreneurship. The scope of this Special Issue will be to explore alternative methods concerning biomaterials and bicircular economy to replace conventional raw material usage and enhance the circulation and biodegradability of new materials in the context of the existing climate change implications. The main goal of the Issue is the collection of papers in the following topics: 

• Green and sustainable products
• Biobased products
• Distribution, use, and application
• End of life of products
• End-of-waste criteria
• Recycling and circulation
• Circular Economy
• Waste and energy flows
• Alternative energy sources
• Social and environmental protection
• Bio-circular economy
• Material recovery
• Material flow analysis
• Natural based solution
• Life cycle assessment

Dr. Irene Voukkali
Dr. Iliana Papamichael
Dr. Antonis A. Zorpas
Guest Editors

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

• bio-based materials
• circularity
• waste flows
• energy flows
• bio-circular
• sustainability
• environmental impact