Valorization of Linen Processing By-Products for the Development of Injection-Molded Green Composite Pieces of Polylactide with Improved Performance

Ángel Agüero, Diego Lascano, David Garcia-Sanoguera, Octavio Fenollar and Sergio Torres-Giner
Additional contact information
Ángel Agüero: Technological Institute of Materials (ITM), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Plaza Ferrándiz y Carbonell 1, 03801 Alcoy, Spain
Diego Lascano: Technological Institute of Materials (ITM), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Plaza Ferrándiz y Carbonell 1, 03801 Alcoy, Spain
David Garcia-Sanoguera: Technological Institute of Materials (ITM), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Plaza Ferrándiz y Carbonell 1, 03801 Alcoy, Spain
Octavio Fenollar: Technological Institute of Materials (ITM), Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Plaza Ferrándiz y Carbonell 1, 03801 Alcoy, Spain
Sergio Torres-Giner: Novel Materials and Nanotechnology Group, Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Calle Catedrático Agustín Escardino Benlloch 7, 46980 Paterna, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-24

Abstract: This work reports the development and characterization of green composites based on polylactide (PLA) containing fillers and additives obtained from by-products or waste-streams from the linen processing industry. Flaxseed flour (FSF) was first produced by the mechanical milling of golden flaxseeds. The resultant FSF particles were melt-compounded at 30 wt% with PLA in a twin-screw extruder. Two multi-functionalized oils derived from linseed, namely epoxidized linseed oil (ELO) and maleinized linseed oil (MLO), were also incorporated during melt mixing at 2.5 and 5 parts per hundred resin (phr) of composite. The melt-compounded pellets were thereafter shaped into pieces by injection molding and characterized. Results showed that the addition of both multi-functionalized linseed oils successfully increased ductility, toughness, and thermal stability of the green composite pieces whereas water diffusion was reduced. The improvement achieved was related to both a plasticizing effect and, more interestingly, an enhancement of the interfacial adhesion between the biopolymer and the lignocellulosic particles by the reactive vegetable oils. The most optimal performance was attained for the MLO-containing green composite pieces, even at the lowest content, which was ascribed to the higher solubility of MLO with the PLA matrix. Therefore, the present study demonstrates the potential use of by-products or waste from flax ( Linum usitatissimum L.) to obtain renewable raw materials of suitable quality to develop green composites with high performance for market applications such as rigid food packaging and food-contact disposable articles in the frame of the Circular Economy and Bioeconomy.

Keywords: PLA; flax; multi-functionalized vegetable oils; green composites; waste valorization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/652/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/652/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:652-:d:309339

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().