ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9811-1715
Current Organisation
Technological University of the Shannon
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Publications
Upcycling Biodegradable PVA/Starch Film to a Bacterial Biopigment and Biopolymer
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 27-10-2021
Abstract: Meeting the challenge of circularity for plastics requires amenability to repurposing post-use, as equivalent or upcycled products. In a compelling advancement, complete circularity for a biodegradable polyvinyl alcohol/thermoplastic starch (PVA/TPS) food packaging film was demonstrated by bioconversion to high-market-value biopigments and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) polyesters. The PVA/TPS film mechanical properties (tensile strength (σu), 22.2 ± 4.3 MPa strain at break (εu), 325 ± 73% and Young’s modulus (E), 53–250 MPa) compared closely with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) grades used for food packaging. Strong solubility of the PVA/TPS film in water was a pertinent feature, facilitating suitability as a carbon source for bioprocessing and microbial degradation. Biodegradability of the film with greater than 50% weight loss occurred within 30 days of incubation at 37 °C in a model compost. Up to 22% of the PVA/TPS film substrate conversion to biomass was achieved using three bacterial strains, Ralstonia eutropha H16 (Cupriavidus necator ATCC 17699), Streptomyces sp. JS520, and Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633. For the first time, production of the valuable biopigment (undecylprodigiosin) by Streptomyces sp. JS520 of 5.3 mg/mL and the production of PHB biopolymer at 7.8% of cell dry weight by Ralstonia eutropha H16 from this substrate were reported. This low-energy, low-carbon post-use PVA/TPS film upcycling model approach to plastic circularity demonstrates marked progress in the quest for sustainable and circular plastic solutions.
Third-order nonlinear optical response and nonlinear photoluminescence in multiwalled carbon nanotubes
Publisher: SPIE
Date: 17-03-2003
DOI: 10.1117/12.463642
Nonlinear photoluminescence in multiwall carbon nanotubes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2001
Nonlinear photoluminescence from multiwalled carbon nanotubes
Publisher: SPIE
Date: 07-12-2001
DOI: 10.1117/12.449851
Related Organisations
Open University
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Related Funding Activities
No related grants have been discovered for Margaret Brennan Fournet.