kth.sePublications KTH
Operational message
There are currently operational disruptions. Troubleshooting is in progress.
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Extruded Porous Protein–Lignocellulosic Blends as Fully Bio-Based Alternative to Single-Use Absorbent Plastics
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), Fibre- and Polymer Technology, Polymeric Materials.ORCID iD: 0009-0002-1522-2426
Division of Industrial Biotechnology, Department of LIFE Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg SE-412 96, Sweden.
Division of Industrial Biotechnology, Department of LIFE Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg SE-412 96, Sweden.
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), Fibre- and Polymer Technology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5850-8873
Show others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: ACS Applied Polymer Materials, E-ISSN 2637-6105, Vol. 7, no 19, p. 13099-13113Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Sustainable technologies have enabled the production of degradable single-use plastics (SUPs) for various applications. However, environmentally friendly, porous disposable absorbents still lack the competitive functionality of synthetic options. In this work, we report the continuous extrusion of fully biopolymer-based porous absorbents derived from integrated proteins and lignocellulosic residues, all sourced from biomass waste. The results show that the saline absorption capacity of the extruded materials increases 1.5 times compared to the reference solely by including oat husk, a lignocellulosic byproduct from the food industry. The absorption was further improved 2 times by including a delignification step on the oat husk and wheat bran, demonstrating the importance of the biomass’s chemistry in increasing the material’s absorption. Here, the addition of 20 wt % of Keratin fibers from food waste increases the material’s absorbency to 6.5 g/g, with the ability to retain 2 g/g of the saline solution in its structure, which is also the highest reported value for extruded protein-based formulations so far. This work advances the development of porous absorbent materials with competitive performance, utilizing industrial methods and upcycling undervalued biomass waste into sustainable consumer products. Introducing porous biopolymer-based materials as alternatives to synthetic counterparts used in the hygiene and sanitary industries ensures the return of safe molecules to nature, paving the way for microplastic-free, single-use, porous absorbents.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Chemical Society (ACS) , 2025. Vol. 7, no 19, p. 13099-13113
Keywords [en]
biofillers, biopolymer blends, extrusion, porous materials, single-use absorbents
National Category
Energy Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-372413DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.5c02445ISI: 001578248600001PubMedID: 41098852Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105018744808OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-372413DiVA, id: diva2:2011981
Note

QC 20251106

Available from: 2025-11-06 Created: 2025-11-06 Last updated: 2025-11-06Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Latras, AthanasiosOdelius, KarinCapezza, Antonio Jose

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Latras, AthanasiosOdelius, KarinCapezza, Antonio Jose
By organisation
Polymeric MaterialsFibre- and Polymer Technology
In the same journal
ACS Applied Polymer Materials
Energy Engineering

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 68 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf