2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
Increasing the Biodegradability of Thermally Reprocessable Vanillin-Based Thermosets
Thermosets are a widely used group of plastics that have strong thermal and chemical resistance. Because of these beneficial properties, thermosets are used widely in cookware, electrical insulation, and lamination. Unfortunately, due to the significant degree of crosslinking and high thermal resistance that they exhibit, recycling and reprocessing prove to be challenging. This leads to a large amount of plastic waste that does not degrade in a reasonable amount of time. Vitrimers are a versatile group of polymers that exhibit both thermoset and thermoplastic attributes as a result of their covalent adaptive network (CAN). Although they are processable, these polymers will quickly lose their stability after a few cycles, once again resulting in unwanted plastic waste. This work attempts to overcome this barrier by selectively doping a vitrimer with a cellulose derivative to enhance its biodegradability while not compromising its desirable characteristics. A vanillin-based vitrimer was selected due to its sustainable source material, high thermal resistance, and processability. A copolymer was synthesized using the cellulose derivative and the vitrimer in conjunction. Afterward, the copolymer's physical properties and biodegradability were observed. The biodegradability was ascertained via biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and there was a noticeable increase in the BOD of the doped sample. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was employed to further support the indication of concordant thermal stability. Finally, solvent resistance tests across different mediums were taken of the cellulose-doped vitrimer and the results indicated similar stability to the base vitrimer. These results highlight the potential of cellulose doping as an inexpensive and effective way to facilitate the degradability of vitrimers and other thermosets.