TY - JOUR
T1 - Complete stereo-complexation of enantiomeric polylactides for scalable continuous production
AU - Pan, Gangwei
AU - Xu, Helan
AU - Mu, Bingnan
AU - Ma, Bomou
AU - Yang, Jing
AU - Yang, Yiqi
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by National Institute of Food and Agriculture of U.S. Department of Agriculture (Multi-State Project S1054 (NEB 37-037) and USDA Hatch Act), and the Agricultural Research Division at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gangwei are grateful to the China Scholarship Council for the financial support. The authors appreciate support from Graduate Student Innovation Plan of Jiangsu Province (CXZZ13_0751) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JUDCF13021, JUSRP51505, JUSRP51723B). The authors are grateful to Dr. Chris J. Cornelius and Wenjian Zheng in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of Nebraska-Lincoln for their assistance in dynamic mechanical analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - A facile and clean technology for stereo-complexation of polylactides (PLAs) shows potential to be readily incorporated into continuous industrial processes for manufacture of films, fibers and other plastic products. Using this approach, complete stereo-complexation of high-molecular-weight PLAs could be achieved via simple thermal treatment, rendering the production of durable PLA commodities inexpensive and industrially scalable. Currently, due to their high susceptibility to water and heat, PLA products have restricted industrial applications, and cannot compete with their petroleum-derived counterparts. Stereo-complexation of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(D-lactic acid) (PDLA) could effectively decrease water and heat sensitivity of common PLLA products. However, many stereo-complexation processes required harmful solvents or nucleating agents, and thus, were costly, complicated, and had low potential for short-term industrialization. Moreover, complete stereo-complexation was mostly achieved for PLAs with weight-average molecular weight lower than 1 × 105. In this research, PLLA and PDLA both with viscosity-average molecular weight of 3 × 105 were completely stereo-complexed (sc) via simple thermal treatment. Comparing to PLLA fibers, sc-PLA fibers had softening points 60 °C higher, and their thermal and hydrolytic stability significantly enhanced. Relationship among temperature of thermal treatment, degree of stereo-complexation and performance properties of sc-PLA fibers were also established. This clean technology makes possible industrial-scale production of commercializable biobased plastics.
AB - A facile and clean technology for stereo-complexation of polylactides (PLAs) shows potential to be readily incorporated into continuous industrial processes for manufacture of films, fibers and other plastic products. Using this approach, complete stereo-complexation of high-molecular-weight PLAs could be achieved via simple thermal treatment, rendering the production of durable PLA commodities inexpensive and industrially scalable. Currently, due to their high susceptibility to water and heat, PLA products have restricted industrial applications, and cannot compete with their petroleum-derived counterparts. Stereo-complexation of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(D-lactic acid) (PDLA) could effectively decrease water and heat sensitivity of common PLLA products. However, many stereo-complexation processes required harmful solvents or nucleating agents, and thus, were costly, complicated, and had low potential for short-term industrialization. Moreover, complete stereo-complexation was mostly achieved for PLAs with weight-average molecular weight lower than 1 × 105. In this research, PLLA and PDLA both with viscosity-average molecular weight of 3 × 105 were completely stereo-complexed (sc) via simple thermal treatment. Comparing to PLLA fibers, sc-PLA fibers had softening points 60 °C higher, and their thermal and hydrolytic stability significantly enhanced. Relationship among temperature of thermal treatment, degree of stereo-complexation and performance properties of sc-PLA fibers were also established. This clean technology makes possible industrial-scale production of commercializable biobased plastics.
KW - Continuous process
KW - Hydrolysis resistant
KW - Polylactic acid
KW - Polylactide
KW - Softening temperature
KW - Stereo-complexation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2017.07.068
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2017.07.068
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85025139657
SN - 1385-8947
VL - 328
SP - 759
EP - 767
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
ER -