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，作为化石基单体的潜在替代品。通过这个提议，我们的目标是将木质素转化为单体和生物基聚合物，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，但它们是由化石燃料生产的。这些塑料是不可再生的，对环境造成了重大影响。除了对温室气体排放和碳足迹的直接负面影响外，塑料在地球上的生物积累也对海洋和陆地生态系统以及人类健康产生不利影响，这被认为是仅次于气候变化的最重要的全球环境问题。为了减少温室气体排放和减少生物积累，对由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阿尔伯塔木质素生产。相对较差的加工性、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适用性。因此，利用生物聚合物纳米技术可以克服上述一些缺点。纳米复合材料是新一代高性能材料，具有至少一个纳米尺度。特别是，多面体低聚硅氧烷（POSS）和纤维素纳米晶体（CNC）正在成为制备高性能纳米复合材料的新原料。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。颗粒还将使用增材制造技术进行加工，以产生功能形状和样品，这些形状和样品将被机械和热机械特征化，以形成属性数据库，用于工业应用的更高TRL水平的制备

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