After a brief definition of terms (what are bioplastics?), this lecture will discuss various material and application examples for biobased and/or biodegradable plastics. An overview on the topic of organic recycling (compostability, biodegradability) will be given. Finally we discuss the microplastics issue and the degradation of plastics in the ocean.

Measuring the shear rheology for highly temperature sensitive materials is challenging. Material characterization tools are slow compared to industrial processing. Using numerical simulations will help to illustrate the challenges for both the industrial processing and the material characterization.  Three measuring techniques to obtain shear viscosity will be compared and discussed based on recent developments within a research project performed within KU Leuven.

Measuring the shear rheology for highly temperature sensitive materials is challenging. Material characterization tools are slow compared to industrial processing. Using numerical simulations will help to illustrate the challenges for both the industrial processing and the material characterization.  Three measuring techniques to obtain shear viscosity will be compared and discussed based on recent developments within a research project performed within KU Leuven.

TerraVerdae Bioworks has been developing PHA manufacturing technology and PHA-based products for more than 10 years.  As current market conditions represent unprecedented demand for sustainable materials, we now offer a range of high performance PHA-resins that are both biobased and biodegradable and will help our customers meet their sustainability goals.  

Reactive extrusion has emerged as a potent tool for improving material properties of common resins. The Cochran research group has used the Haake system to explore impact modification of polyesters such as PLA using biomass additives. The use of these additives and this technique allows for the transformation of PLA, a very brittle material, into something with material properties akin to ABS (high impact strength, tensile strength, and flexibility). 

Development of effective approaches for sustainable recycling of a post-industrial and post-consumer plastic materials is currently one of the main goals of the plastics’ industry. This dynamic development is associated with challenges regarding uniform terminology, characterization approaches and missing standards on recycled plastics. The presentation provides an overview about the current status and future trends of plastics recycling in the context of circular economy. 

This paper evaluates the efficacy of a hybrid treatment for waste-plastic granules using a bio-oil and carbon coating to make the plastic granules compatible with asphalt binder, to promote environmental sustainability and enhance pavement performance. The bio-oil used in this study was derived from waste vegetable oil, and the coating with carbon was performed using graphene nanoparticles. To evaluate the extent of surface treatment of plastic granules, the formation of surface functional groups was tracked using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, and their surface energy before and after treatment was measured using inverse gas chromatography. In addition, the thermomechanical properties and phase separation of asphalt binders containing treated-plastic granules were studied. The study results showed that the total surface energy of plastic was increased by 49% after treatment-promoting interactions between plastics and binder. This in turn led to an 86% reduction in
the separation of plastics and binder. The viscosity of binder containing plastics increased significantly; however, the binder with treated plastic had 56% lower viscosity than the binder with non-treated plastic. Binder with treated plastic had increased resistance to fatigue cracking, as evidenced by a significant reduction in G*Sin(d) compared to the binder with non-treated plastic. Low-temperature properties were also improved for binder with treated plastic compared to binder with non-treated plastic. Finally, the moisture-induced shear-thinning index showed that the presence of treated plastic granules in binder made the binder less susceptible to moisture.

Small-scale solvent-free organic synthesis--aka, "Mechanochemistry"--is rapidly growing in popularity.  In part, this growth is due to the ability to perform reactions in a cheaper, faster, safer, and more environmentally friendly manner. This presentation will explore the scale-up process starting from milligram-scale R&D.

The particle dispersions used to make the catalyst layers of water electrolyzers are prone to agglomeration due to the interparticle forces between the catalyst particles. However, the ion conducting polymers that are also present in these dispersions can promote more stable dispersions through steric and electrostatic stabilization. This talk will overview our work studying these colloidal interactions and how they relate to the manufacturability of water electrolyzers for hydrogen production.

This presentation discusses an application example of using single-screw and twin-screw extruders to manufacture Nylon 12/strontium ferrite composites for additive manufacturing. The resulting composites show good distribution of magnetic fillers in Nylon 12 and desirable bend strength.  Preliminary results also indicate that reprocessing the composite filaments leads to even higher mass and magnetic dipole volume densities.

Hawaiʻi is one of Earth’s most beautiful, yet plastic polluted, marine environments. This presentation will provide an overview of microplastic research in Hawaiian beach sand, sea turtles and larval fish.

I will first discuss findings from the larger field on microplastics effects across taxa in freshwater and marine ecosystems, and then cover ongoing work in our research group comparing responses to a diversity of paired exposures to different micro and nanoplastic particle types (fragments, fibers) in estuarine and freshwater fish and invertebrate model organisms. Findings include impacts on development, growth, behavior, and survival and take into consideration varying abiotic factors such as salinity, with varied sensitivity between fish (Danio rerio, Menidia beryllina) and invertebrates (Daphnia magna, Americamysis bahia). These data are being used to parameterize a Bayesian risk assessment model, which will predict potential impacts of plastic pollution on freshwater and coastal ecosystems.

Using high resolution spatial and temporal data we tested whether plastics deposited wet versus dry have unique atmospheric life histories. Further, we report on the rates and sources of deposition to remote U.S. conservation areas. We show that urban centers and resuspension from soils or water are important sources for wet deposition. In contrast, plastics deposited dry were smaller in size and rates were related to indices that suggest longer range or global transport. Deposition rates averaged 132 plastics m-2 day-1 amounting to > 1000 tons of plastic deposition to western U.S. protected lands annually.

California Senate Bill 1422 requires the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt a definition of microplastics in drinking water, develop a standard methodology to measure microplastics in drinking water, monitor for microplastics in drinking water for four years and publicly disclose results, and consider a health-based guidance level to aid consumer interpretations of the results of the testing, as well as accredit laboratories to analyze microplastics. California state scientists are collaborating with academic researchers, laboratories, instrument manufacturers (including Thermo Fisher), and industry to advance the science and complete these ambitious objectives. This presentation will provide an overview of the world’s first regulatory investigation of microplastics in drinking water, including the definition of microplastics, known human health effects, method standardization efforts, and upcoming plans and actions regarding microplastics in drinking water.

The State of California has passed legislation requiring monitoring of microplastics in drinking water.  As such, standardized methods by which to measure microplastics are needed.  This presentation provides an overview of the measurement intercalibraiton exercise, involving 40 laboratories from 6 countries, to provide consensus on microscope, FTIR, Raman, and pyrolysis-GC/MS techniques for quantifying microplastics in such matrices.

Plastic ingestion by seabirds has been studied for decades, however the identification of the polymers found in seabirds has only recently been addressed. We determined the types of polymers of the plastic pieces found in the gizzards of Great Shearwaters (Ardenna gravis) taken from fisheries bycatch in the Gulf of Maine from 2010 - 2019.

Anthropogenic microparticles, including microplastics, are commonly found in nearshore environments, where they may be entrained in coastal waters, sequestered in sediments, or ingested by a variety of organisms. We assessed the distribution of microparticles in coastal California and examined bioavailability to foundational species such as zooplankton and invertebrate infauna. Our findings, indicating high abundance of very small and bioavailable microparticles, are concerning because of the potential impact to nearshore communities at multiple trophic levels.

Authors: Mark C. Benfield, Elizabeth Marchio, Aimee Thomas, Kyrsten Boswell, and Nicole Nguyen.

In August 2020 the MV Bianca lost a shipping container filled with an estimated 750 million raw polyethylene resin pellets (nurdles). The majority of these pellets entered the Mississippi River and contaminated shorelines within, and downriver of New Orleans. Samples collected at contaminated sites contained large quantities of nurdles, many of which had morphologies that differed from samples of the spilled pellets. This study describes the spill and the preliminary results from the use of FT-IR  spectroscopy to distinguish spill pellets from those released by other sources.

Three popular microplastic identification methods were practically compared with real complex environmental samples. The advantages and limitations of each method including analysis time, false positive and negative identification rates, and size and polymer types of the detected microplastics were evaluated. 

FTIR and SEM microanalyses were conducted to support health investigations and characterize microplastics in house dust, air, consumer products, water, and fish. Measurements of particle composition, size, shape, and surfaces will be discussed, including the presence of associated flame retardants and metals.

Microplastics (plastic particles less than 5 millimeters) have received increased scientific attention as they have been found around the globe, including recent studies which have shown microplastic contamination in remote locations. However, questions remain about the sources, transport, and fate of microplastics deposited in the environment. I will present an overview of a new microplastic sample collection method we have been developing, some preliminary results from freshwaters from the Sierra Nevada, and future directions we plan to take this research. 

Accuracy and utility of spectral analysis has plateaued, but techniques are still are not good enough for many environmental forensics applications (such as microplastic analysis). The primary limitations are a lack of reference data on material types in the environment and the complexity of correctly analyzing spectra. We propose an open source software, reference library, and spectroscopy community to address these problems by leveraging Semi-Supervised Artificial Intelligence Techniques on shared reference data.

Ghent University has been performing research on plastic pollution for the past 15 years, during which new techniques for the collection, extraction, quantification and identification of microplastics have been developed and refined. Despite these increased world-wide research activities, method standardization, development and the reliability and efficiency of MP measurements are still a high on the agenda. We will discuss our approach for optimization of (ATR-)FTIR analysis of various complex environmental matrices, what we have learned and what still needs addressing. These lessons learned and further research needs will be discussed in the context of national and international (EU) needs for monitoring and new (upcoming) legislation concerning microplastics.

Microplastics, a ubiquitous contaminant across all ecosystems, is unique due to its complexity. Microplastics are a diverse suite of particles sizes, shapes and chemistries. Their fate and effects are unique from other chemical pollutants. To help researchers and managers around the world better understand this emerging contaminant, methods are evolving rapidly. This talk will provide a general overview of microplastics, critical research gaps, and the relevant methodological considerations.