Renewable Polymers • Marc A. Dubé and Tizazu Mekonnen Renewable Polymers Processing and Chemical Modifications Edited by Marc A. Dubé and Tizazu Mekonnen Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Processes www.mdpi.com/journal/processes Renewable Polymers Renewable Polymers Processing and Chemical Modifications Special Issue Editors Marc A. Dub´e Tizazu Mekonnen MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade • Manchester • Tokyo • Cluj • Tianjin Special Issue Editors Marc A. Dube´ Tizazu Mekonnen University of Ottawa University of Waterloo Canada Canada Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes/special issues/ renewable polymers). For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03928-766-6 (Pbk) ISBN 978-3-03928-767-3 (PDF) c 2020 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Special Issue Editors ..................................... vii Tizazu Mekonnen and Marc A. Dub´e Special Issue “Renewable Polymers: Processing and Chemical Modifications” Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 398, doi:10.3390/pr7070398 ..................... 1 Joseph Khouri, Alexander Penlidis and Christine Moresoli Viscoelastic Properties of Crosslinked Chitosan Films Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 157, doi:10.3390/pr7030157 ..................... 5 Shidan Cummings, Yujie Zhang, Niels Smeets, Michael Cunningham and Marc A. Dub´e On the Use of Starch in Emulsion Polymerizations Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 140, doi:10.3390/pr7030140 ..................... 23 Prachiben Panchal, Emmanuel Ogunsona and Tizazu Mekonnen Trends in Advanced Functional Material Applications of Nanocellulose Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 10, doi:10.3390/pr7010010 ..................... 63 Hu Jin, Wen Nie, Yansong Zhang, Hongkun Wang, Haihan Zhang, Qiu Bao and Jiayi Yan Development of Environmental Friendly Dust Suppressant Based on the Modification of Soybean Protein Isolate Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 165, doi:10.3390/pr7030165 ..................... 91 Birendra B. Adhikari, Michael Chae, Chengyong Zhu, Ataullah Khan, Don Harfield, Phillip Choi and David C. Bressler Pelletization of Torrefied Wood Using a Proteinaceous Binder Developed from Hydrolyzed Specified Risk Materials Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 229, doi:10.3390/pr7040229 .....................109 Nor Anizah Mohamad Aini, Nadras Othman, M. Hazwan Hussin, Kannika Sahakaro and Nabil Hayeemasae Hydroxymethylation-Modified Lignin and Its Effectiveness as a Filler in Rubber Composites Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 315, doi:10.3390/pr7050315 .....................121 Sepehr Kardan, Omar Garcia Valdez, Adrien M´etafiot and Milan Maric Nitroxide-Mediated Copolymerization of Itaconate Esters with Styrene Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 254, doi:10.3390/pr7050254 .....................143 Se-Ra Shin, Van Dung Mai and Dai-Soo Lee Chemical Recycling of Used Printed Circuit Board Scraps: Recovery and Utilization of Organic Products Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 22, doi:10.3390/pr7010022 .....................161 Ze Kan, Hao Shi, Erying Zhao and Hui Wang Preparation and Performance of Different Modified Ramie Fabrics Reinforced Anionic Polyamide-6 Composites Reprinted from: Processes 2019, 7, 226, doi:10.3390/pr7040226 .....................181 v About the Special Issue Editors Marc A. Dub´e, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIC, FEIC is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Ottawa. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario and is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada. His research is focused on sustainable polymer reaction engineering, which includes the synthesis of new polymers from renewable materials, as well as the development of sustainable polymerization processes. His research group has expertise in the synthesis, characterization, and product performance measurement of multi-component polymers in bulk, solution, and emulsion polymerization. Tizazu H. Mekonnen, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON. His research focuses on the design and modification of bio-resourced polymers, sustainable nanostructured polymers, carbohydrate polymers, multiphase functional materials, polymer blending and reactive extrusion, and rubber processing with applications in engineering materials, functional coatings, functional packaging, biodegradable and compostable materials, and personal care products. His research has produced 35 refereed journal publications and 9 patent applications. Prior to his academic position, he was a polymer scientist at E. I. DuPont. vii processes Editorial Special Issue “Renewable Polymers: Processing and Chemical Modifications” Tizazu Mekonnen 1,* and Marc A. Dubé 2,* 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute for Polymer Research (IPR), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada 2 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada * Correspondence: [email protected] (T.M.); [email protected] (M.A.D.) Received: 21 June 2019; Accepted: 21 June 2019; Published: 26 June 2019 The use of renewable resources for polymer production is receiving substantial and ever-growing interest. While only about 8% of the petroleum produced globally is used for the manufacture of polymers, there are alarming environmental and safety concerns associated with both the feedstock used to produce polymers and their end-of-life disposal. One possible solution to mitigate these negative environmental consequences is to develop more sustainable polymers via the use of renewable raw materials, or to recycle synthetic polymers. Feedstock such as proteins, cellulose, starch, lignin, chitosan, gums, vegetable oils, terpenes, and polyphenols can be used for the manufacture of a variety of sustainable materials and products, including elastomers, plastics, hydrogels, flexible electronics, sensors, engineering polymers, and composites. Various novel processing technologies and chemical modification strategies are also being implemented to make this feedstock more suitable for polymeric materials. This Special Issue of Processes brings together several papers from leading scientists and researchers active in the area of “Sustainable and Renewable Polymers, Processing, and Chemical Modifications”. The collected papers include both original research and two review articles related to renewable feedstock for polymer applications, processes for the fabrication of renewable polymer-based nanomaterials, the design and modification of renewable polymers, and applications of renewable polymers. The Special Issue is available online at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ processes/special_issues/renewable_polymers. The contributions are summarized below. Khouri et al. [1] investigated the viscoelastic properties of treated chitosan films to elucidate the potential crosslinking of chitosan with citric acid. The study experimentally demonstrates that the thermal treatment of chitosan films in the presence of citric acid causes ionic crosslinking. The viscoelastic studies confirm that citric acid can be a safe alternative crosslinking agent to other crosslinkers, such as glutaraldehyde and epichlorohydrin of chitosan, by employing a heterogeneous film preparation method. Adhikari et al. [2] developed a renewable wood-pellet binder from a short chain proteinaceous material co-reacted with polyamidoamine epichlorohydrin resin. The main contribution of this work is an experimental demonstration on the use of an otherwise waste protein material for wood binder applications. This proof-of-concept work, based on bench-scale continuous pelletization trials, clearly indicates the feasibility of using waste protein-derived peptides as a binder to improve the durability of torrefied wood pellets. In an excellent example of enhancing the sustainability of plastics via recycling, Shin et al. [3] demonstrate the recovery of a useful organic material from recycled printed circuit boards that used brominated epoxy as a matrix. The depolymerization of the thermosetting epoxy was conducted via glycolysis using polyethylene glycol (PEG) under basic conditions. The recovered organic product (pre-polyol) obtained after glycolysis was converted into a recycled polyol via the Mannich reaction Processes 2019, 7, 398; doi:10.3390/pr70703981 www.mdpi.com/journal/processes Processes 2019, 7, 398 and the addition of the polymerization of propylene oxide to prepare rigid polyurethane foams for thermal insulation and other applications. The use of soybean protein isolate as a biodegradable and environmentally-friendly alternative dust suppressing agent was investigated by Jin et al. [4].