Green Chemistry Blog

Scientists from Spain report tailor-made collagen biopolymers from tanning waste with diverse shapes such as fibers, films and sponges. 

Mercedes Catalina (Advanced Chemistry Institute of Catalunya), Rafael Luque (University of Cordoba) and colleagues valorised tanning waste from leather processing to give biopolymers which could be easily modified using various methodologies with the aim of generating waste-derived renewable biopolymers.  For example, introducing cross-linking agents on the  matrix network of the biopolymer provided a material with improved properties.  The authors envisage these materials could have promising in fields such as cosmetics and medicines.

This article is free to access until the 18th February 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Tailor-made biopolymers from leather waste valorisation, Mercedes Catalina, Jaume Cot, Alina Mariana Balu, Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz and Rafael Luque, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16330F

You may find this review article of interest too which is also free to access.  Why not take a look…

Waste materials – catalytic opportunities: an overview of the application of large scale waste materials as resources for catalytic applications, M. Balakrishnan, V. S. Batra, J. S. J. Hargreaves and I. D. Pulford, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 16-24

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