Green biopolymer nanocomposites facility: supercritical carbon dioxide characterisation and processing for nanomaterials and biopolymers (2011-2012)
Abstract
The Green Biopolymer Nanocomposite Facility will house state of the art supercritical-CO2 characterisation and processing facilities for developing novel bio-based materials using supercritical CO2. Biopolymers from natural and renewable resources show great potential for replacing conventional fossil-fuel derived polymers in many applications and alleviating major problems with plastics waste. However some major drawbacks of biopolymers have been their difficulty to process and their unstable properties in the environment. This facility aims to utilise supercritical CO2 processing for developing new biopolymers and green composites to alleviate these processing and final property challenges, as well as offering greener processing methods.
