1173: USE OF VEGETABLE WASTE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIO-BASED POLYMER COMPOSITES

USE OF VEGETABLE WASTE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIO-BASED POLYMER
COMPOSITES

D. Gaikwad, G. Tarricone, M. Mauri, R. Simonutti University of Milan-Bicocca Email:
d.gaikwad@campus.unimib.it

Increased sensibility of the consumers requires alternatives to the use of bovine leather. Plant-based
materials can be a significant answer to environmental, economic and social requirements. Here we
report the synthesis of plant-based leather from vegetable waste, by including significant amounts of
dried and milled fruit peels in a polymer matrix.

The powder is constituted by the following biopolymers: cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin,
aliphatic polyesters, and starch [1]. To include it, a mixture of HEMA (2hydroxyethyl methacrylate)
monomer and the crosslinker MBA (N, N -methylene-bis(acrylamide) is polymerized by free radical
polymerization activated by a radical initiator AIBN (α,α′-Azoisobutyronitrile) in water solution
containing linear PVP (Polyvinylpyrrolidone). The hydrogel network obtained by polymerization is
physically embedded by linear PVP forming the so called semi-interpenetrated network (semi-IPN)
[2]. One focus of the work was the assessment of the durability and reusability of the leather like
material . Further we try to upscale our synthesis by replacing HEMA with Dopamine which
has proven to exhibit strong adhesive properties to variety of substrates under wet conditions
exhibiting similar properties like the previous monomer.

Reference
[1]. Mink.R; Mauri.M; Simonutti.R . Leather-Like Material From Plant-Based Wastes, Process Of
Manufacturing And Use Of Said Leather-Like Material. WO2023136849A1·2023-07-20.
[2]. J. Dominigues, N. Bonelli, R. Giorgi, E. Fratini,F. Gorel, P.
Baglioni. Langmuir (2013) 29, 2746-2755.