The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Recycling of biopolymers – The patent perspective
Abstract
Abstract The present study investigates the main recycling technologies of biopolymers, including bio-based and/or biodegradable polymers, disclosed in the patent literature. Most of the retrieved patents relate to the recycling of aliphatic polyesters, in particular PLA, which is nowadays the most commonly used biodegradable polymer. The main recycling technologies, which are examined, are sorting, mechanical recycling, chemical recycling (hydrolysis, alcoholysis, and thermal depolymerization with catalysts) and the relatively new enzymatic depolymerization of biopolymers. Currently, mechanical processing of post-industrial waste appears to be the only realistic option for the recycling of biodegradable PLA. Bio-based non-biodegradable polymers, such as bio-PET, bio-PE, bio-PA can be mixed with their fossil fuel-based counterparts and recycled in existing recycling facilities. Poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) can also be mixed with industrial PET in an amount up to 2%, and recycled. Despite the dynamic growth of biopolymers their waste streams are still small and scattered; and no separate recycling stream yet exists for PLA. On the other hand, there is much activity in patenting on the recycling of biopolymers. Most of the information presented in this paper is not to be found anywhere else, but in patents.
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Cited by
Beyond Mechanical Recycling: Giving New Life to Plastic Waste
Vollmer, I., Jenks, M. J. F., Roelands, M. C. P., White, R. J., van Harmelen, T., de Wild, P., van der Laan, G. P., Meirer, F., Keurentjes, J. T. F., & Weckhuysen, B. M. (2020) · Angewandte Chemie International Edition · doi:10.1002/anie.201915651 · Cited by 1,905
The Chemical Recycling of PLA: A Review
McKeown, P., & Jones, M. D. (2020) · Sustainable Chemistry · doi:10.3390/suschem1010001 · Cited by 294
“In the patent literature, there are several examples of alcoholysis reactions of PLA [94].”
BackgroundDedieu, I., Peyron, S., Gontard, N., & Aouf, C. (2022) · Polymer Testing · doi:10.1016/j.polymertesting.2022.107620 · Cited by 84
Influence of Addition of Organic Fillers on the Properties of Mechanically Recycled PLA
Beltrán, F. R., Gaspar, G., Dadras Chomachayi, M., Jalali-Arani, A., Lozano-Pérez, A. A., Cenis, J. L., de la Orden, M. U., Pérez, E., & Martínez Urreaga, J. M. (2021) · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · doi:10.1007/s11356-020-08025-7 · Cited by 54
Recyclability of Poly(Hydroxybutyrate-Co-Hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBH) for Food Packaging Applications
Plouzeau, M., Belyamani, I., Fatyeyeva, K., Marais, S., Kobzar, Y., & Cauret, L. (2023) · Food Packaging and Shelf Life · doi:10.1016/j.fpsl.2023.101170 · Cited by 41
Metadata
- Authors
- Niaounakis, M.
- Venue
- European Polymer Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-05
- Volume
- 114
- Pages
- 464-475
- ISSN
- 0014-3057 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2916259905
- Cited by
- 204
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 5.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Niaounakis, M. (2019). Recycling of biopolymers – The patent perspective. European Polymer Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2019.02.027
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
