Soft Matter and Formulation for Industrial Innovation

我们生活在一个被丢弃的社会，在这个社会中，我们制造、使用和处置对我们的环境和健康有害的影响，例如海洋和食物链中的塑料污染物。这是因为许多商业流程的工业化，大大降低了消费者的产品成本。这些较低的价格并不反映其制造或处置对环境的实际成本。超过40%的塑料包装被丢弃在垃圾填埋场，近三分之一被非法倾倒。需要一种新的范式，一种废物再利用来生产产品和能源的生物循环经济。该项目将把从农业废物中获得的材料转化为可堆肥的塑料包装，因此具有真正的潜在重大影响。PHD的第一部分是量化和了解Futamura以番茄废叶为原料生产的薄膜的性能，以及在这些薄膜中添加涂层(由橘皮形成)的效果。对于每个薄膜，将测量以下各项：拉伸模数；应变到失效；拉伸强度；剥离测试(热密封性)；动态机械热分析(分子迁移率)；热重分析；阻挡性能(CO2、O2、N2、H2O)；透明度(薄膜质量)；X射线(结晶度)；傅立叶变换红外/拉曼光谱(取向/组成)；快速场循环核磁共振(分子迁移率)；以及扫描电子显微镜/光学显微镜(表面属性/涂层的均匀性)。除了研究涂覆的纤维素膜外，还将研究涂层本身。这将通过将涂层浇铸到玻璃板上来实现，以创建仅由涂层制成的薄膜，然后可以进行测试。目的是确定薄膜的微观性能和机械/光学/阻隔性能之间的关系。植物聚合物之间的相互作用本身是很有趣的，通过这项工作，我们可以从自然和关于自然的知识中学到东西。该项目将与世界上最大的纤维素薄膜生产商日本公司Futamura合作。你将有机会参观他们在英国的一个生产基地，并与他们的科学家团队一起工作。Https://www.futamuragroup.com/en/divisions/cellulose-films

We live in a throw-away society in which we make, use, and dispose with detrimental effects to our environment and health, such as plastic contaminants in oceans and food chains. This has come about because of the industrialisation of many commercial processes, dramatically reducing the cost of products for consumers. These lower prices do not reflect the real cost to the environment of either their manufacture or their disposal. Over 40% of plastic packaging is discarded in landfills with almost one third being dumped illegally. A new paradigm is needed, a bio-circular economy with waste reuse to generate products and energy. This project will turn materials obtained from agricultural waste with no current usage, into compostable plastic packaging and so has the real potential for significant impact. The first part of the PhD is to quantify and understand the properties of the films produced from tomato waste leaf by Futamura, and the effect of adding a coating (formed from orange peel) to these films. For each film the following will be measured: tensile modulus; strain to failure; tensile strength; peel tests (heat sealability); dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (molecular mobility); thermogravimetric analysis; barrier properties (CO2, O2, N2, H2O); transparency (film quality); X-ray (crystallinity); Fourier transform infrared/Raman spectroscopy (orientation/composition); fast field cycling nuclear magnetic resonance (molecular mobility); and scanning electron microscopy/optical microscopy (surface properties/uniformity of coatings). In addition to studying the coated cellulose films, the coatings on their own will be studied. This will be achieved by casting the coatings on to glass plates, to create films made from the coatings alone, which can then be subsequently tested. The aim is to determine relationships between microscopic properties and mechanical/optical/barrier properties of the films. The interactions between plant polymers are interesting in and of themselves, and through this work we can learn both from nature and about nature. This project will work with the Japanese company Futamura, the biggest world-wide producer of cellulosic films. You will have the opportunity to visit one of their production sites in the UK and work alongside their team of scientists. https://www.futamuragroup.com/en/divisions/cellulose-films