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 by Staff Writers Munich, Germany (SPX) Jan 28, 2020
A research team from the Fraunhofer Society and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) led by chemist Volker Sieber has developed a new polyamide family which can be produced from a byproduct of cellulose production - a successful example for a more sustainable economy with bio-based materials. Polyamides are important plastics. They can be found in ski bindings and in cars or items of clothing. Commercially, they have been made predominantly from crude oil up until now; there are just a few "green" alternatives, such as polyamides based on castor oil. Bio-based compounds are often significantly more expensive to produce and have therefore only been able to penetrate the market before now if they have had particular properties. A team led by Volker Sieber, Professor of the Chemistry of Biogenic Raw Materials at TU Munich, has now developed a completely new polyamide family which can be produced from a byproduct of cellulose production.
New polyamide family The second ring remains intact here. In this way, instead of a linear polymer chain like in traditional polyamides, a chain which bears many small rings and other side groups emerges. This gives the polymer completely new functions.
Special properties "By way of reaction conditions and catalysts during synthesis, we can easily control whether we will obtain a transparent or partially crystalline polyamide in the end," explains Sieber. "However, the basis for this is offered above all by the specific structure of the bio-based starting material which would be very expensive to obtain from fossil raw materials."
Increasing sustainability The biogenic starting material (+)-3-carene can actually be distilled at a high purity and comparatively low cost from the turpentine oil produced as a secondary product in the cellulose industry. Up until now, the turpentine oil was only heated in the cellulose factories. "We use it as a vital starting material for plastics," says Sieber. "This is an enormous increase in value."
No competition with food production "Thanks to the simple scalability, the potential for an efficient process is very high," says Paul Stockmann, whose doctoral thesis at the TUM is based on the findings. At the Fraunhofer IGB, the chemist is now working on establishing (+)-3-carene-based polyamides on the market as alternatives to crude-oil-based high-performance polyamides.
Research Report: Biobased Chiral Semi-Crystalline or Amorphous High-Performance Polyamides and their Scalable Stereoselective Synthesis
Lagos waterfront evictions highlight Nigeria oil and land squabbles Lagos (AFP) Jan 26, 2020 The lagoon waters at the port entrance to Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, are usually teeming with small fishing boats. But the bustling waterfront slums of Lagos are now quiet after the navy evicted tens of thousands of residents from their homes in recent weeks. The evictions are highlighting tensions over real estate in the megalopolis of 20 million where building space is an increasingly rare commodity. The operation has also exposed the stark contrast of shantytown fishing communiti ... read more
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