Preface 1) Biodegradable Polymers - A Tutorial for a Circular Plastics Economy 2) Fundamentals of Polymer Biodegradation Mechanisms3) Plastic Pollution. The Role of (Bio)degradable Plastics, and other Solutions 4) Tutorial on Polymers - Manufacture, Properties, and Applications 5) Condensation Polyesters6) Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) - Production, Properties, and Biodegradation 7) Ring-Opening Polymerization Strategies for Degradable Polyesters 8) Recent Developments in Biodegradable Cellulose-Based Plastics 9) Ester Derivatives of Microbial Synthetic Polysaccharides 10) Biodegradable Lignin-Based Plastics 11) Design of Recyclable Thermosets 12) Managing Plastic Waste 13) Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-Based Plastics: Concepts, Findings, and Pitfalls 14) How to Create a "New Plastics Economy"? Marketing Strategies and Hurdles - Finding Application Niches
Michiel Dusselier is a tenure-track research professor at the Center for Sustainable Catalysis and Engineering of KU Leuven, focusing on circular concepts, zeolite synthesis methods, heterogeneous catalytic process in the context of sustainable chemistry, and functional-biodegradable plastics. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Bioscience Engineering (Catalytic Technology, 2013) at KU Leuven under the guidance of Prof. Bert Sels and Prof. Pierre Jacobs, inventing new catalytic routes for bioplastics synthesis. In 2014-15, he did postdoctoral work with Mark Davis at Caltech, studying the synthesis of zeolites and methanol-to-olefins. He has authored ca. 50 peer-reviewed papers and 6 patents, of which one transferred to industry.Jean-Paul Lange is principal research scientist at Shell Projects & Technology in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he has been exploring novel catalytic processes for producing fuels and chemicals, initially from natural gas and oil and, since more than twenty years from biomass and plastic wastes. His research embraces heterogeneous catalysis, chemical engineering, conceptual process design, manufacturing economics and technology strategy. He is also Professor in Chemical Biorefining at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, where he is investigating thermo-chemical and -catalytic routes to convert biomass to fuels and chemicals and to recycle plastic wastes. Jean-Paul Lange is co-author of >100 patent series, >65 scientific publications and 7 book chapters.