Additive manufactured fully renewable lignin-based biopolymer nanocomposites

木质素占世界可再生碳的35%，因此木质素可以生产大量的可再生单体，作为化石单体的潜在替代品。通过这项提议，我们的目标是将木质素转化为单体和生物聚合物，包括聚酯和聚酰胺及其纳米复合材料。目前，聚酯和聚酰胺是世界上最常用的热塑性聚合物之一，但它们是从化石燃料中生产的。这些塑料是不可再生的，正在导致重大的环境影响。除了对温室气体(GHG)排放和碳足迹的直接负面影响外，人们还对塑料在地球上的生物积累对海洋和陆地生态系统以及人类健康产生不利影响表示关切，这被认为是仅次于气候变化的最重大的全球环境问题。为了减少温室气体排放和减少生物积累，对生物质生产的聚合物的需求将是巨大的。在这个项目中，我们建议合成和生产可再生聚酯和聚酰胺热塑性塑料。这些生物聚合物将由艾伯塔省的木质素生产。相对较差的加工性能、较低的机械强度和较差的热性能限制了生物聚合物在许多工业应用中的应用。因此，利用生物聚合物纳米技术可以克服上述一些缺点。至少一维纳米尺度的纳米复合材料被认为是新一代高性能材料。尤其是多面体低聚倍半硅氧烷(POSS)和纤维素纳米晶(NC)作为制备高性能纳米复合材料的新原料正在涌现。聚合物和纳米复合材料将以颗粒形式生产。稍后将对这些颗粒进行化学和物理表征。颗粒还将使用添加剂制造技术进行加工，以生产功能形状和样品，这些形状和样品将进行机械和热机械特性表征，以形成一个性能数据库，为工业应用准备更高的TRL水平

Lignin makes up to 35% of renewable carbon in the world therefore large volume of renewable monomers can be produced from lignin as a potential alternative to fossil based monomers. Through this proposal, we aim to convert lignin into monomers and biobased polymers including polyesters and polyamides and their nanocomposites. Currently, polyesters and polyamides are among the most commonly utilized thermoplastic polymers worldwide but they are produced from fossil fuels. These plastics being non-renewable are leading to significant environmental impacts. In addition to the direct negative impacts on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon footprint, concerns are being raised on bioaccumulation of plastics on the planet having adverse effects on marine and terrestrial ecosystems as well as human health, and this is considered as the most significant global environmental concern next to changing climate. The need for polymers produced from biomass will be significant in order to mitigate the GHG emissions and reduce bioaccumulation. In this project, we propose synthesis and production of renewable polyester and polyamide thermoplastics. These biopolymers will be produced from Alberta based lignin. The relatively poor processability, low mechanical strength and inferior thermal properties limit the applicability of biopolymers in many industrial applications. Therefore, some of above drawbacks can be overcome by exploiting biopolymer nanotechnology. Nanocomposites, with at least one dimension in nanometre scale, are regarded as a new generation of high performance materials. Particularly, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) and cellulose nano-crystals (CNC) are emerging as a new feedstock for the preparation of high performance nanocomposites. The polymer and the nanocomposites will be produced in pellet form. These pellets will later be chemically and physically characterized. The pellets will also be processed using additive manufacturing technique to produce functional shapes and specimens that will be mechanically and thermomechanically characterized to form a property database for a preparation for higher TRL levels for industrial applications