Hanns Peter Dr. Müller

Thermoplastic and biodegradable polymers of cellulose

Polymers which are biodegradable currently achieve high interest in materials science since they offer reductions of landfill space during waste management as well as new end-user benefits in various fields of applications. Among these materials, those from renewable resources such as polysaccharides additionally offer CO 2 -neutrality, partial independence from petrochemistry-based products and the exploitation of natures synthesis capabilities via photosynthesis. Cellulose, being a constituent of wood, is regenerated in much larger quantities than starch by natural photosynthesis from CO 2 and water. The very substantial, but so far little exploited category of cellulose-based materials, which has lead to some of the very first industrial polymer-products such as celluloid and cellophane still offers numerous new possibilities for polymeric materials. Basically two main groups of cellulose-materials can be distinguished: regenerated celluloses are suitable only for fibre and film production from conventional and new processes. Secondly, thermoplastically processable cellulose derivatives such as esters can be used for extrusion and moulding. Based on general considerations on the correlation between biodegradability and molecular structure, cellulose derivatives allow both thermoplastic processing and post-consumer waste management via biological decomposition. Ways to realise this demanding new mix of properties considering biodegradability, thermoplastic behaviour and material-properties as well as possible synthetic strategies and their realisation are presented.