Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer

materials
Jianfeng Wang, Wenzhen Qian, Yufeng He ⇑, Yubing Xiong, Pengfei Song, Rong-Min Wang ⇑
Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, Institute of Polymer, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Northwest
Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Biomass is abundant and recyclable on the earth, which has been assigned numerous roles to human
Received 2 December 2016 beings. However, over the past decades, accompanying with the rapid expansion of man-made materials,
Revised 6 April 2017 such as alloy, plastic, synthetic rubber and fiber, a great number of natural materials had been neglected
Accepted 9 April 2017
and abandoned, such as straw, which cause a waste of resource and environmental pollution. In this
Available online xxxx
review, based on introducing sources of discarded biomass, the main composition and polymer chains
in discarded biomass materials, the traditional treatment and novel approach for reutilization of dis-
Keywords:
carded biomass were summarized. The discarded biomass mainly come from plant wastes generated
Discarded biomass
Natural polymer
in the process of agriculture and forestry production and manufacturing processes, animal wastes gener-
Functional polymer materials ated in the process of animal husbandry and fishery production as well as the residual wastes produced in
Reutilization the process of food processing and rural living garbage. Compared with the traditional treatment includ-
ing burning, landfill, feeding and fertilizer, the novel approach for reutilization of discarded biomass prin-
cipally allotted to energy, ecology and polymer materials. The prepared functional materials covered in
composite materials, biopolymer based adsorbent and flocculant, carrier materials, energy materials,
smart polymer materials for medical and other intelligent polymer materials, which can effectively serve
the environmental management and human life, such as wastewater treatment, catalyst, new energy, tis-
sue engineering, drug controlled release, and coating. To sum up, the renewable and biodegradable dis-
carded biomass resources play a vital role in the sustainable development of human society, as well as
will be put more emphases in the future.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
2. Sources of discarded biomass and traditional treatment. . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
3. The main composition and polymer chains of discarded biomass materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4. The novel approach for reutilization of discarded biomass . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5. Functional composite materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6. Biopolymer based adsorbent and flocculant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
7. Biopolymer based carrier materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

Abbreviations: AA, acrylic acid; AM, acrylamide; BA, butyl acrylate; CF, chicken feather; CMC, carboxymethyl cellulose; CS, chitosan; DAAM, diacetone acrylamide;
DMDAAC, dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride; E-PHK, pig hair keratin; E-PHKPGel, (E-PHK)-based biopolymer hydrogel; FK, feather keratin; HA, humic acid; HTC,
Hydrothermal carbonization; MAA, methacrylic acid; MMA, methyl methacrylate; MSW, Municipal solid waste; NOR, norfloxacin; ORR, oxygen reduction reaction; PAN,
polyacrylonitrile; PC, polycarbonate; PdNPs, palladium nanoparticles; PE, polyethylene; PEG, polyethylene glycol; PEO, poly(ethylene oxide); PHA, polyhydroxyalkanoates;
PLA, Polylactic acid; PLMA, polymalic acid; PNIPAAm, poly (N-isopropylacrylamide); PoSt-g-BMD, potato starch-based graft copolymer; PoSt-g-BMD-C, potato starch-based
graft copolymer coatings; PP, polypropylene; PTE, polysulfide ester; PTT, Polytrimethylene terephthalate; PVA, poly-vinyl alcohol; SDZ, sulfadiazine; SHR, soybean hulls
residue; TC, tetracycline; TTI, Time-Temperature Indicator; TYL, tylosin; WPCs, wood polymer composites; WSC, wheat straw carboxymethylcellulose; WSM, wheat straw
matrix.
⇑ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: heyufeng@nwnu.edu.cn (Y. He), wangrm@nwnu.edu.cn (R.-M. Wang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
0956-053X/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
2 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx

8. Energy materials from waste biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

9. Smart polymer for medical materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
10. Other intelligent polymer material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
11. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

1. Introduction and animal wastes and they are contained among them. In the glo-
bal scope, there is 140 billion metric tons of biomass generated
Biomass is abundant and recyclable on the earth, which has from agriculture annually (Oladeji and Oyetunji, 2013). These vol-
been assigned numerous roles to human beings from ancient umes of biomass are converted into a substantial amount of raw
times. However, accompanying with the rapid expansion of man- materials. Meanwhile, they produced different forms of discarded
made materials, such as alloy, plastic, synthetic rubber and fiber, biomass residue (Vaisanen et al., 2016). Extraordinarily in China,
a great number of natural materials had been neglected and aban- as a large agricultural country with a high-ranking in global crop
doned, such as straw, which cause a waste of resource and environ- production (Huang et al., 2012), it has abundant agricultural waste
mental pollution. In the beginning of 20th century, the rapid resources, such as the crops straw. The annual production of waste
expansion of relatively low-priced petrochemical production inhi- crop straw is as high as approximately 0.7 billion tons, of which
bits the development of agricultural industry. In the midst of them, 70% is composed of rice straw, wheat straw and corn stalk. So
synthetic polymer materials have lots of advantages, such as easy- China has the most discarded biomass resources in the world
machined, beautiful and practical, which met the needs of different (Liu et al., 2013). In the process of forestry production, generally,
industry areas and gradually took the place of traditional materials wastes come from the process of forest harvesting, raw wood man-
(Wong et al., 2015). Every year, millions of tons of petrochemical ufacturing and wood processing, such as wood chips, sawdust,
polymer materials, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) shavings (Tan et al., 2015), which are up to about 110 million tons
and polycarbonate (PC), were produced and used in daily life, each year. Urban greening and wood wastes also occupy a large
industrial and agricultural production. Most of non-renewable proportion of city solid wastes. It is also known as ‘‘another kind
and non-biodegradable synthetic materials were used in a short of forest”, which is the forest that lying on the ground. Besides,
period and promptly became wastes, which resulted in seriously there are many kinds of natural polymer in the living garbage, such
environmental ‘‘white pollution” at present. On the other side, with as walnut shell, coconut shell, fruity nucleus, chestnut shells, cot-
the depletion of fossil resources and the soaring prices of crude oil, ton seed shell and pineapple peel. Additionally, a large number
the production of petrochemicals from fossil as raw materials has of residues, such as bean curd, lees, bagasse, and food industrial
been a severe challenge (Xiong et al., 2012a,b). Therefore, biomass scraps, have been discharged from food processing industry
resources have been paid increasing attention because of their (Marcet et al., 2016; Moreno et al., 2016; Raak et al., in press;
renewability and biodegradability (Wang et al., 2016a,b; Steur et al., 2016). For instance, in the fish or shrimp processing,
Komatsu et al., 2006). In particular, the composition and energy the amount of wastes can be reached as high as 60% of the marine
utilization of biomass energy are very similar to fossil energy. Thus, animals’ weight. After obtaining the fish fillets, the remaining 50–
it has the largest potential to substitute for conventional energy 60% of the whole fish is discarded as by-products or wastes (Torres
(Zhou et al., 2016a,b). et al., 2007). It is understandable that why the problem of indus-
Biomass materials had been used as structural materials or trial by-products and wastes in food processing has attracted the
common materials from ancient times because their major compo- interest of researchers, regulatory departments, industry and con-
nents were natural polymers, such as lignin, cellulose, starch, sumers and has urged the European Union towards ‘‘a zero-waste
chitin and protein, which guaranteed enough strength and stabil- economy” by 2025 (Naziri et al., 2014).
ity. However, a lot of natural polymers were discarded as forms During development in thousands years, human have gradually
of biomass on account of the ignorant of their real value. In the past accumulated valuable experience in processing and recycling of
decades, increasing emphases were turned to natural polymers in discarded biomass resources. Except for landfill, the typical meth-
the development of environmentally-friendly products and fuels ods are burning, feeding and fertilizer. In the agrarian age, some of
(Moon et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2012). Overall, the depletion of agricultural wastes were directly used as animal feed. Part of
non-renewable resources and the environmental pollutions moti- discarded biomass materials can be disposed by microbial
vate the increasing demands of renewable resources and there is transformation, which provides microbial protein products, then
still a long way towards dealing with all of problems. In this becoming animal feed (Sun et al., 2005). Meanwhile, in some
review, from the perspective of polymer chemistry and functional undeveloped, rural and agricultural districts, as well as several
materials, the development and research progress on reutilization peri-urban areas, people cooked or heated by burning agricultural
of discarded biomass and the preparation of functional materials residues in their daily lives. Direct incineration of discarded
has been summarized. biomass is deemed to a common way of disposal in developing
countries including China (Huang et al., 2012). The direct combus-
2. Sources of discarded biomass and traditional treatment tion of discarded biomass in cropland is a kind of lower-priced way
for disposal of discarded biomass. However, the excessive combus-
Almost all discarded biomass are come from plants, animals and tion of discarded biomass releases large quantities of greenhouse
microbial wastes. The plant wastes are generated in the process of gases and dust, which not only lead to formidable air pollution
agriculture and forestry production and manufacturing processes. such as fog and haze, smog and acid rain (Ding et al., 2013; Li
The animal wastes are generated in the process of animal hus- et al., 2016a,b), but also a seriously waste of valuable natural
bandry and fishery production, and the residual wastes are pro- resources including energy, materials, nutrients and minerals
duced in the process of food processing and rural living garbage. substances. It was reported that the concentration of particulate
In addition, microbial wastes are mainly produced in the plant matter may increase dramatically in downwind suburbs and rural

Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
areas because of postharvest combustion of discarded biomass like
rice straws and maize straws (Zhang et al., 2010a,b). Moreover,
agricultural wastes could also be utilized as fertilizer, such as var-
ious compost (aerobic), wet compost (facultative anaerobic) and
fertilizer from biogas (anaerobic), which may not merely raise soil
porosity, but also organic minerals containing N, P and K (Zhu et al.,
2015). Simultaneously, fertilizers carry out biochemical reaction
based on microorganisms which would transform organic wastes
into high-efficacy organic fertilizers similarly humic process. The
landfill disposal is widely used in recent years, of which the rate
of refuse disposal, it reaches 95–100% (He et al., 2016a,b;
Emadian et al., 2017). This processing technology possesses lots
of merits, such as technical maturity, simple operability, large
capacity and consumability. However, it could not be neglected
that if wastes are biohazardous, they might cause serious
environmental pollution problems even destruction. It is also
result in a waste of resources.
3. The main composition and polymer chains of discarded
biomass materials
On the base of polymer science, natural polymers include inor-
ganic and organic polymers. Natural organic polymer is a signifi-
cant biopolymer with dividing into 8 categories, such as
polysaccharide, polyamide, polyphenol, polyisoprene, nucleic acid,
polysulfide ester (PTE), polyethylene oxide ester and inorganic
Fig. 1. The typical structure of polysaccharide (Lignin, Cellulose, Starch, Alginic acid, Chitin, Chitosan and Humic acid) and Proteins (Keratin containing -S-S-).
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
3
polyester. Specifically, polysaccharide mainly includes cellulose,
starch, chitosan (CS) and collagen while polyamide contains pro-
tein and amino acid, and polyphenol mainly includes lignin and
humic acid. Moreover, polyisoprene includes natural rubber and
gutta-percha while organic polyethylene oxide esters include poly-
hydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polymalic acid (PLMA) and cutin.
Polyphosphate is the typical representative of inorganic polyester,
which exists in most of different types of cells.
There are three kinds of biopolymers (lignin, polysaccharide
and protein) in discarded biomass (Fig. 1). Lignin is the second
most abundant natural polymer consisting of methoxylated phenyl
propane structures (Singh et al., 2016) on the earth which widely
exists in wooden structure, approximately accounting for 25–35%
of the organic matrix of wood (Montazeri and Eckelman, 2016).
Although lignin is produced 150 billion tons every year, most of
them are not used as raw materials in the industrial production
due to its thermal and biological stability and cytotoxicity
(Numata and Morisaki, 2015). Besides, the commercial lignin basi-
cally comes from paper-making industry and ethanol industry. The
amount of by-products of lignin in papermaking industrial produc-
tion is more than 30 million tons every year (Hatakeyama and
Hatakeyama, 2009). Therefore, lignin is an extensive biomass
source, with renewable, non-toxic and low-priced ability, but inad-
equate utilization may further pollute the environment.
Polysaccharide includes cellulose, starch, chitin and CS, whose
structural units are glucose. The differences are substituent or
stereochemical structure. Specifically, cellulose is not merely the
4 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx

basic component of plant cell wall which forms about half of one-
third of plant tissues, but also the most abundant renewable and
biodegradable material available in the nature (Xu et al., 2016). It
is constantly restocked by photosynthesis, and it is estimated that
the amount of biosynthesis up to 10 11 tons yearly (Kaya et al.,
2016). Starch is the mixture of amylose and amylopectin, which
are products of photosynthesis and existing semicrystalline in
plant cell plastids (Gao et al., 2016). Hemicellulose accounts for
approximately 20–30% total amount of biomass in the nature
which is generally less than cellulose polymers. It is found that
most of hemicellulose is in xylems of hardwood with the degree
of polymerization of 100–400 (Borjesson and Westman, 2016).
Chitin mainly exists in the shells of crustaceans such as shrimps,
crabs and insects. It is a copolymer with N-acetyl-D-glucosamine
and D-glucosamine units linked through b-(1–4) - glycosidic bond,
where N-acetyl-D-glucosamine units are predominant in the poly-
meric chain. In the global, about 100 billion tons of chitins are nat-
urally generated as by-products per year, while waste chitins from
industrial production are about 10,000 tons (Kim, 2010). Chitosan,
the deacetylated form of chitin, is the sole natural alkaline polysac-
charide found in the nature so far, also consists of the most content
of cationic polysaccharide. Moreover, CS is highly biocompatible
and biodegradable but poorly water-soluble, so CS modifications
are necessary to expand applications (He et al., 2011, 2016;
Wang et al., 2005). Humic acid, generated by the death of organ-
isms by biodegradation, is the main component of humus as well
as the predominant organic compounds of soil, peat, and coal,
many upland streams, humic nutrition lakes, and seawater
(Urrea et al., 2017). It is usually showed the properties of dibasic
acid or ternary mixture acid, owing to containing carboxyl, pheno-
lic hydroxyl and other functional groups.
Proteins are basic materials in animal and microbial cells, which
accounts for 16–20% of body weight. The species of proteins are
great in the nature, and most discarded proteins are keratin, colla-
gen and plant protein. Therein, the discarded collagen mainly from
skin and tendon tissue accounts for 25–30% of total protein weight
and even over 80% in several animal bodies (Shoulders and Raines,
2009). Keratin widely exists in body parts such as skin, hair and
nails of vertebrates and it is rich in cysteine residues and disulfide
bond (Wang et al., 2010a). Nonetheless, a lot of keratin, especially
feather keratin, is abandoned, leading to a waste of resources (Guo
et al., 2014).
Generally, lignin and polysaccharide come from stem, leaf and
root of plants, and protein comes from animal and plant seed. Agri-
cultural straw is the most vital part of agricultural waste, contain-
ing most of natural polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose and
lignin. For example, in corn straws, the amount of cellulose, hemi-
cellulose and lignin are 45%, 35% and 15%, respectively. Rice straw
contains 60% polysaccharide which are cellulose and xylan, and the
residuals are lignin and ash content (Swain and Krishnan, 2015). In
other word, straw contains most of cellulose, hemicellulose and
lignin, the amounts are about 33.14–45.93%, 15.58–19.32% and
21.84–27.24% (Chen et al., 2015), respectively. Plant kenaf contains
60–80% cellulose while the percentage of lignin is only 5–20%
(Saba et al., 2015). Sugarcane bagasse contains 59.0% of fiber,
20.9% of lignin and 20.6% of pentosan as well as proteins, a few
minerals, waxes and other compounds (Chandel et al., 2012). Dry
bean dregs contain 50% of cellulose, 16–34% of protein, fat, and
ash content (Li et al., 2013a,b,c). In palm slag after being extracting
palm oil, there are roughly 90% of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lig-
nin (Kong et al., 2014).
There are abundant collagen in land and aquatic animals and
their processing waste, like skin, bone, and scale. It is certainly that
collagen of marine animal has low antigenicity and hypoallergenic
compared with the collagen of terrestrial animal. Keratin is the
most abandoned protein in the process of agricultural and sideline
Fig. 2. The typical technical route for reutilization of discarded biomass in energy,
ecology and polymer materials.
products, which extensively exist in hair, feathers, wool, nails, and
horns (Li et al., 2011a,b). Especially, the keratin content of animal
hair and poultry feather is more than 90% (Coward-Kelly et al.,
2006) and the output of abandoned feather reaches more than
1 million tons yearly. In China, although the annual production of
poultry feathers is more than 700,000 tons (Xia et al., 2012), most
of them are underutilized except a few of them are used as filling
materials because of its thermal properties. On the other side, part
of plant proteins are outputted as a by-product, such as zein (Yang
et al., 2014), soybean protein isolated (Wang et al., 2011).
4. The novel approach for reutilization of discarded biomass
The discarded biomass has been traditional reutilization as feed,
fertilizer and matrix. Depending on the progress of science and
technology, it has also been applied to energy, ecology and poly-
mer materials (Xiao et al., 2016; Quispe et al., 2016; Iglesias
et al., 2017). The relationship between bio-based products and
their transformation are showed in Fig. 2. Since 1970, the utiliza-
tion of biomass energy has been increased by many governments.
It is quite practical and significant that the environmentally
friendly discarded biomass is converted into clean, low-priced
and high quality biomass energy through bio-refinery techniques.
As fuels, straw and other biomass wastes are approximately equiv-
alent to medium coal after transforming into solid form, and some
shortcomings of conventional coal do not present in biomass
energy. The thermal efficiency is as high as 94% after transforming
agricultural waste into biogas. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is cap-
able of producing clean and combustible gas according to the prin-
ciple of biomass thermal gasification by users. Wheat straw could
be used in the production of ethanol, biological hydrogen and
methane (Poulsen and Adelard, 2016), and its waste liquid is able
to be further usage of making methane (Kaparaju et al., 2009).
Isikgor and Becer (2015) used fast pyrolysis reactor to convert dis-
carded biomass from material of agriculture and forestry into bio-
fuels, with 60.2% rate of production. Rocha et al. (2012) disposed
bagasse with biological method to prepare ethanol, which could
be used as a biofuel as well.
From a technical point of view, efficiently comprehensive uti-
lization of biogas fermentation device and ecological agriculture
pattern are the hotspots of current research (Kennes et al., 2016).
This comprehensive utilization model is also applied to biomass

Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
materials. For example, plant straw, a typical discarded biomass, of
which energy utilization rate would be only 20% if it is digested by
livestock. In contrast, using a comprehensive utilization model,
named ‘‘straw - edible fungus - pig - gas - fertile field”, the utiliza-
tion rate of energy would be over 50%. The utilization rate of
organic matter and nutrient element could reach 95% (Zeng et al.,
2007).
As biomass materials in organisms contains many kinds of
small molecules and macromolecules with diverse functions and
biological activities. Some extracts from biomass could be used
as drugs (Tao et al., 2012; Jia et al., 2008) or functional edible food
except for life needs. For instance, bean dregs, one of the typical
wastes in food industry, contain a large number of dietary fiber
and soy isoflavones with various efficacies such as antioxidant (Li
et al., 2011a,b), anti-cancer ability, cholesterol reduction, and pre-
vention of atherosclerosis and osteoporosis. Biopolymer is derived
from organisms.
Although it cannot be absorbed by human body, cellulose has
the desirable function of cleaning intestine which is suitable for
patients with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) to eat healthy food
(Jones, 2014). Zhu et al. (2016) reported that two extracts were
produced by degradative solvent extraction at 250–350 °C when
rice straw and fir sawdust were used as the raw biomass materials.
And those extracts were good additives for coke-making. There is
no doubt that the soluble polysaccharide could be extracted in
bean dregs, which is capable to be converted into bioethanol and
reductive polysaccharide.
Our group (Wang et al., 2010a; Li et al., 2011a,b; Li et al., 2013a,
b,c; Wang et al., 2015a,b,c,d) had studied reutilization of discarded
feathers with simple method. We found that feather keratin (FK),
one of low-cost natural polymers, could to be effectively extracted
from discarded chicken feathers. The extracted pure FK had been
applied to prepare novel functional polymer materials, such as
packaging materials, biopolymer flocculants, biopolymer antioxi-
dant, biopolymer photocatalyst and keratin films based drug
carriers.
In summary, with the exception of usage in energy, ecology and
convention, the discarded biomass has been utilized to prepare
functional polymer materials, such as functional composite mate-
rials, biopolymer based adsorbent and flocculant, carrier materials,
energy materials, medical polymer materials and other intelligent
polymer materials.
5. Functional composite materials
With new performances on macroscopic or microscopic obser-
vation through physical or chemical methods, composite materials
are becoming important construction material or functional mate-
rials. It is leading to their comprehensive performances better than
that of the original composition materials and meeting the
demands of the various and expanding its application in the future
(Yu et al., 2016; Goh et al., 2016). The miscibility properties of lig-
nin and other biological plastics could be improved with grafting
modification of Polylactic acid (PLA). For instance, Chung et al.
Fig. 3. The preparation of Lignin-PLA copolymer.
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
5
(2013) found study demonstrates that PLA can be directly grafted
onto unmodified lignin by ring-opening polymerization with an
organic catalyst (Fig. 3). The synthesized lignin-g-PLA copolymers
with appropriate grafted PLA chain lengths can be utilized as dis-
persion modifiers in PLA-based biobased composite materials,
improving UV absorbance as well as mechanical properties.
The potential use of waste biomass based biochar as reinforce-
ment in the fabrication of polymer based composites was proposed
by Das et al. (2015a). To identify a route for organic wastes utiliza-
tion, they collected six biochars from various feedstocks (landfill
pine saw dust, sewage sludge, and poultry litter) at diverse pyrol-
ysis conditions to manufacture the biocomposites (Das et al.,
2016). They found that addition of biochar did not disrupt the crys-
tal structure of the PP. The poultry litter biochar (with high CaCO3
based mineral) composites were observed to have a lower heat
release rate among the other composites. They also postulated that
wood polymer composites (WPCs) being added with biochar has
good potential to mitigate wastes. Simultaneously, the obtained
biocomposites might be suited for various end applications (Das
et al., 2015b).
Ma et al. (2015a,b) prepared a macroporous nanocomposite bio-
mass with efficient adsorption capacity to displace toxic ions via
natural polymer Xanthan gum and silicate. This nanocomposite
exhibited a special macroporous structure and properties, as well
as a better cation exchange capacity for retaining cation ions.
Ahmadzadeh et al.’s (2015) had incorporated cellulose nanocom-
posites foams with surface-modified montmorillonite through a
high shear homogenizer method, which afforded a new kind of
material. Ardanuy et al. (2012) successfully prepared recycled
polypropylene-based composite foams reinforced with untreated
and chemically-treated cellulose fibres obtained from agricultural
residues were successfully prepared using a high-pressure CO2 dis-
solution physical foaming process. A clear increase in Tg was
observed with adding the cellulose fibres to PP, related to a lower
molecular mobility of the amorphous portion of PP induced by the
cellulose fibres. The specific storage modulus was higher for all
solid composites when compared to unfilled PP, related to the
higher stiffness of the cellulose fibres. These results show that
foams prepared from recycled PP and barley straw obtained from
agricultural residues may find potential applications as lightweight
composites in different fields such as construction or automotive.
Fan et al. (2016) focused on preparation and structural investiga-
tion of water insoluble keratin/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blend
nanofiber mat with high content of keratin for biomedical uses.
The biocompatibility of the water insoluble keratin/PEO blend
nanofiber mat was also researched via cell cultivation, which
asserted that nanofiber had the potential in tissue engineering
and biomaterials field.
6. Biopolymer based adsorbent and flocculant
The pollution of heavy metal has attracted widespread atten-
tion on account of its severe effects on environment and living
organisms. Wang et al. (2014a,b,c) had prepared wheat straw
6 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
matrix-g-polyacrylonitrile-based adsorbent (WSM-PAN) by means
of living free radical polymerization technology (Fig. 4). Its adsorp-
tion capacity of Hg2+ had ascended greatly when polyacrylonitrile
(PAN) was grafted to the surface of the WSM. We found that the
wheat straw carboxymethylcellulose (WSC) could be modified by
functional poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) with in situ polymerization,
which afforded polymer adsorbent for removing Pb(II) ions in
wastewater, and Pb(II) removal rate get to 99.8% in one hour at
room temperature (He et al., 2014a,b).
Activated carbon is an excellent adsorbent for removal of pollu-
tants from wastewater. Regenerative waste materials were found
to serve as inexpensive alternative precursors for activated carbon
preparation (Suhas et al., 2016). Sun et al. (2016) had successfully
prepared activated carbons by grinding, sieving, drying and clean-
ing the arundo donax and pomelo peel, and it could be used for
adsorbing ciprofloxacin. Saucier et al. (2015) prepared activated
carbon from cocoa shell as adsorbents for removing sodium
diclofenac and nimesulide from aqueous effluents.
As we know, CS has strong adsorption performance. It could be
modified by polyethylene imine for improving the amino func-
tional groups of CS. The prepared CS adsorbent with high specific
surface area porous can adsorb CO2, mainly applying in the treat-
ment of industrial waste gas (Fujiki and Yogo, 2014). The algal bio-
mass, being derived from sea, is typical biological adsorbents for
removing heavy metals (He and Chen, 2014). Soybean hulls resi-
dues (SHR), a kind of food industrial waste, contains a plenty of
hydroxyl groups. We successfully extracted SHR adsorbent from
residues in soybean milk through non-toxic and edible eluent
(Wei et al., 2014). It is capable of quickly removing Pb2+ (Fig. 5),
and could be used as edible antidotes. Shui et al. (2012) studied
on decolorization of dye wastewater through adsorption-
microwave degradation of activated carbon that comes from bean
dregs.
OH
HO OH
10% NH3 H2O
WSM
1 M HNO3 HO
OH
OH
Fig. 4. The preparation of WSM-g-PAN-based adsorbent.
Fig. 5. The adsorption Pb2+ mechanism of SHR.
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
In addition to activated carbon, flocculant also has a unique
merit in wastewater treatment. Bentonite, a natural inorganic min-
eral material, is a promising material in wastewater treatment
because of good adsorption ability, dispersibility, stability and
non-toxicity. Using the AlCl3, FeSO4 and carboxymethyl starch as
raw materials, He et al. (2014a,b) had successful prepared a kind
of flocculant with 87.8% clearance rate of COD when it was applied
to the treatment of potato starch wastewater. It was also found
that some biological macromolecular flocculants showed excellent
flocculation performance (Pan et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2010a,b).
Recently, CS and its derivatives, acting as flocculants in wastew-
ater treatment, have gained wide attention. Yang et al. (2016)
reviewed CS-based flocculants and their applications in wastewa-
ter treatment and discussed the mechanism of flocculation. It sug-
gested that the CS-based flocculants with proper structures have
great application potentials in wastewater treatment. Sun et al.
(2017) prepared CS-based graft polymer flocculant through
plasma-initiated polymerization using acrylamide (AM), dimethyl
diallyl ammonium chloride (DMDAAC) as monomer. The obtained
CS-based graft polymer flocculant exhibited high flocculation per-
formance with 99 % of turbidity removal rate and 96 % of COD
removal rate. Similarly, Wang et al., 2016a,b synthesized a cationic
CS-based polymer flocculant via grafting polymerization of cationic
monomer onto CS. It also showed a highly effective flocculation
capability for activated sludge. Jia et al. (2016a) synthesized an
aromatic rings-functionalized CS-based flocculant, which exhibits
enhanced removal efficiency in the flocculation of binary contam-
inants of Cu (II) and tetracycline (TC). They also reported (Jia et al.,
2016b) amino-acid-modified-CS, a novel environmental-friendly
flocculant for removal of trace antibiotics in water by flocculation
in the coexistence of inorganic suspended particles and natural
organic matter.
O
Br
OH
HO O n
1) 2-BiBBr/Py N
WSM OH
H2N
2) CH2=CH2CN HO OH
O
3) NH2OH HCl
70 0C, 20 hr O Br
n
N
OH
H2N
 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
7. Biopolymer based carrier materials
Protein, cellulose, chitin and CS with secondary and tertiary
structure all have a variety of active groups with easy to be modi-
fied, which afforded to carry active compounds. They could also be
produced into different shapes, such as flake, gel ball, film, fiber,
hollow fiber membrane and spongy, as well as loading on inert
materials. The sugarcane agriculture residues from agro-industry
are biomass feedstock (Alonso et al., 2007). Marcelo et al. (2016)
prepared a lignin inspired polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel by
using catechol as the cross-linking species. The obtained hydrogel
with high water-swelling capability (swelling degree near 2400%)
could be used as an advanced drug delivery system. The largest
cumulative release rate could reach 60% while the longest time
of release up to near 2 months. Duan et al. (2011) found that CS-
graft-PNIPAAm could be used as effective drug carriers for intra-
cameral pilocarpine administration. Lai and Luo (2017) found that
CS-graft-PNIPAAm systems exhibited good cytocompatibility with
lens epithelial cell cultures. That mean the injectable and
biodegradable CS-based thermogels with can be potentially uti-
lized as ophthalmic biomaterial carriers.
Due to strong affinity of metal ions, CS is as well as commonly
used to load catalyst (Chang et al., 2004). We found that CS has the
porous surface structure which is available to light degradation of
dye wastewater through loading active center cobalt phthalocya-
nine (Wang et al., 2014a). It is found that the -SH from FK modified
CdS effectively (Fig. 6), which means it is simple to synthesize a
novel photocatalyst of FK-decorated CdS with co-precipitation
method. The production FK-Cd (II) has the ability of degradation
of dye wastewater (Wang et al., 2015a,b,c,d). Latha et al. (2015)
synthesized the catalyst with excellent activity of Suzuki cross-
coupling reaction between aryl halides and phenylboronic acid.
In detail, firstly they synthesized magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4)
coated with chicken feather (CF) and subsequently grafted with
palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) using in-situ preparation
approach. This kind of catalyst is stable and easy to be separated.
In addition, lignosulfonate, as a cost-effective and renewable
supporting material, is capable of loading cationic catalyst through
Michael addition and catalytic oxidation coupling reaction (Sun
et al., 2014). Hence, it as well as is applied as catalyst carrier.
8. Energy materials from waste biomass
When it refers to a kind of new energy material, such as hydro-
gen storage materials, battery materials, luminescence materials
and phase change materials, they have abilities of storing, convert-
ing, and supporting. In addition to the common synthetic materials
and biomass materials, the source of carbon materials has been
gradually extended to the waste biomass materials. Carbon mate-
rials have many advantages, such as large amount of hydrogen
absorption, low mass, strong resistance of poison and easy to strip.
Therefore, it has attracted a lot of attention as a new type of hydro-
gen storage matrix (Sun et al., 2016a,b). Likewise, porous carbon
(activated carbon) that prepared by biomass is very suitable for
Fig. 6. The structure of FK-Cd (II) complex.
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
7
electrode materials of capacitor because of its good electronic con-
ductivity, large specific surface area, high chemical stability and
highly developed pore structure. Ma et al. (2015a,b) prepared a
kind of nitrogen-doped porous carbon by utilizing potato waste
residues. The nitrogen-doped porous carbon exhibited high capac-
itive performance, and the specific capacitance is up to 255 Fg 1 in
2 M KOH electrolyte when using carbon as electrode materials. Jin
et al. (2007) utilized a coconut shell to prepare activated carbon
with the function of oxygen storage. At present, it is usage of acti-
vated carbon as electrode materials that have already been a
mature technology.
Although the porous carbon has lots of benefits, it is still a high-
priced product. So, N doped porous carbon is increasingly becom-
ing an interesting research since it possesses higher activity and
easier storage. Using pig bones (Wang et al., 2015a,b,c,d), bean
dregs (Zhang et al., 2015) and chicken bones (Song et al., 2014)
as materials, some novel energy materials of N doped porous car-
bon had been prepared, which have multilevel pores, high specific
surface areas and active sites. Additionally, they have good cat-
alytic activity, stability and anti-poisoning ability of methanol for
oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline electrolyte. The oxy-
gen reduction activity of N doped porous carbon is much higher
than commercial Pt/C catalyst. Therefore, this kind of materials
would exhibit good application potentials for catalyst material of
fuel cell.
Clarke et al. (2008) analyzed and assessed the methane yield
from the banana waste. They demonstrated that the banana waste
produced over 398 ± 20 l CH4 kg VS 1 of dry banana. With this
yield, 1 t d 1 can generate 7.5 kW of electricity, which was enough
to supply six to eight houses. The potential of material recovery
and energy production by organic solid wastes generated from
slaughterhouse though anaerobic digestion has been carried out
to assess by Yoon et al. (2014). The methane productions were
achieved above 80% within 10 days in poultry manure & feather,
blood and sludge cake. Thermal treatment technology is an indis-
pensable part of every integrated waste management system,
including combustion, incineration, gasification and pyrolysis
(Lombardi et al., 2015). Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is also
a thermal conversion technique that converts food wastes and
associated packaging materials to a valuable, energy-rich resource
(Li et al., 2013a,b,c).
9. Smart polymer for medical materials
Through hydrolysis, fermentation and biological refining, waste
biomass as raw material could be obtained lactic acid, ethanol,
glucose acid, citric acid, amino acid, acrylic acid, succinic acid,
1,3-propanediol, etc. These products are typical chemical raw
materials which can be used as food additives. What is more, some
monomers are applied for preparing degradable polymer materials
via polymerization, such as PLA, Polytrimethylene terephthalate
(PTT). Medicinal materials enable to be obtained by making use
of its biocompatibility and biodegradability, including surgical
sutures, antiblocking films, temporary stent catheters, stents,
8 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
tissue engineering repair scaffolds and drug controlled-release car-
riers. Chitin and CS material have either the function of antibacte-
rial and anti-inflammatory analgesic or good compatibility and
degradability, so it is possible for them to be applied as biomedical
polymer materials (Wan and Tai, 2013; He et al., 2012).
Protein, as a kind of biological macromolecule, has unique
advantages like good biocompatibility, biodegradability, stability,
low cytotoxicity and high potency. In a variety of existing drug car-
riers, one of the most potential and notable drug delivery system is
the drug carrier based on the animal protein (Wang et al., 2010b;
Mao et al., 2011). After effectively extracted FK from discarded
feathers (Yin et al., 2013), we had prepared keratin-based films
materials (Li et al., 2011a,b) and polymer gel with controlled
release behaviors (Pan et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2015). In addition,
it had good antioxidant activity after being conjugated with metal
complexes (Li et al., 2013a,b,c). Choosing pig hair keratin (PHK)
with short polymer chains as raw materials and using methacrylic
acid (MAA) as a functional monomer, we prepared a novel keratin-
based biopolymer pH-sensitive hydrogel via grafting copolymer-
ization (Fig. 7) (Li et al. 2016). It can carry small molecular and
macromolecular drugs. And in 12 h, the cumulative release rate
was 89 % at pH 7.2 for the small molecular model drug, while the
cumulative release rate reached 70.7 % at pH 7.2 for the macro-
molecular drug (Bovine Serum Albumin).
Besides, it is also found that the hybrid nanoparticles could be
fabricated when the cheap zein (Liu et al., 2015a) and soybean pro-
tein isolated (Wang et al., 2014b; Liu et al., 2015b) were used as
raw materials.
10. Other intelligent polymer material
The intelligent polymer is a kind of polymer material that
responds to physical, chemical or biological stimulations from the
Fig. 7. The preparation of hydrogel for drug release.
Fig. 8. The graft copolymerization of BA, MMA and DAAM on potato starch (PoSt).
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
outside. The studies of intelligent polymer materials have made
great progress, especially some temperature and acid-sensitive
polymer materials (Hoffman, 2013). Stimulus responsive of
intelligent polymer materials attribute to either polymer chain or
pendant group. As a result, when the natural polymer was
used as raw materials, the preparation of intelligent polymer
materials would be achieved through self-assembly, composite
(Xiong et al., 2012a,b), hybrid technology and polymerization
(Zhou et al., 2016a,b). Specifically, the hybrid of proteins and
polysaccharides shows certain regularity, which laid the foundation
for preparation of intelligent biological macromolecule material.
The humidity control composite material was prepared by car-
boxymethyl cellulose (CMC), sepiolite and AA-AM copolymer
(Yang et al. 2011). This material maintained a relative humidity
in the 57–60.5% range at 25 °C, and reached the equilibrium levels
within 3.5 h. And the adsorption capacities for NO2 and SO2 are
227 mg/g and 288 mg/g respectively. Therefore, it is considered
to be suitable for the applications for maintaining a proper
micro-environment for museum or gallery display cases or arti-
facts transportation in particular. Jr et al. (2015) report a PVA/CS
polymeric doped with anthocyanins, a Time-Temperature Indica-
tor (TTI) for applications in intelligent food packaging, which indi-
rectly indicates food quality changes through the detection of
changes in the pH of packaged food products when subjected to
improper storage temperatures. Using agar, potato starch, and nat-
ural dyes extracted from purple sweet potato, Choi et al. (2017)
prepared a new colorimetric pH indicator film which showed color
variations to different pH values and spoilage point of pork sam-
ples that changing from red to green. Liu et al. (2017) prepared
an intelligent starch/poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) film that is capable
of monitoring pH changes and inhibiting microbial growth in
foods, such as Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger and Staphylococ-
cus aureus.
 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
In recent years, we had developed intelligent coatings on the
basis of new special functional coatings (Lv et al., 2008; Lv et al.,
2009). A kind of waterborne polyurethane-polyacrylate miniemul-
sion, whose maximum water absorption rate reaches 206%, was
prepared, and was acted as the interior humidity controlling coat-
ings (Wu et al. 2014). The discard natural polymers were also
applied to prepare intelligent coatings. A new kind of crosslinkable
potato starch-based graft copolymer emulsion (PoSt-g-BMD)
(Wang et al. 2013) was prepared using diacetone acrylamide
(DAAM) as a functional monomer, as well as butyl acrylate (BA)
and methyl methacrylate (MMA) used as basic monomers
(Fig. 8). The rate of water absorption of PoSt-g-BMD-C was 105%
which has the ability to be widely applied to indoors controlling
humidity coatings. The CMC grafted acrylate copolymer emulsion
was also reported, which is a kind of biosafety humidity controlling
coatings with 173% water absorption rate (Wang et al. 2015).
11. Summary
In nowadays, there is a tendency that an increasing number of
studies focus towards environmental-friendly and renewable
resources since the shortage of fossil resources, as well as a waste
of resources and environmental pollution which is brought from
discarded biomass materials. The traditional disposal methods of
reutilization of discarded biomass were simple and direct; but,
inadequate. However, based on bio-refinery technology and poly-
mer science, the discarded biomass could be converted into energy,
as well as producing monomer for manufacturing synthetic poly-
mers. Furthermore, the discarded biomass was mainly composited
by biopolymers such as lignin, polysaccharide and protein which
have been applied to prepare functional polymer materials, such
as functional composite materials, biopolymer based adsorbent
and flocculant, carrier materials, energy materials, smart polymer
materials for medical polymer material, and other intelligent poly-
mer material. Overall, the depletion of non-renewable resources
and the environmental pollutions motivate the increasing
demands of renewable resources and there is still a long way
towards dealing with all of problems.
Acknowledgements
The project was supported by the NSFC (21364012, 21263024)
of China.
References
Ahmadzadeh, S., Nasirpour, A., Keramat, J., Hamdami, N., Behzad, T., Desobry, S.,
2015. Nanoporous cellulose nanocomposite foams as high insulated food
packaging materials. Colloid. Surface A 468, 201–210.
Alonso, P.W., Garzone, P., Cornacchia, G., 2007. Agro-industry sugarcane residues
disposal: the trends of their conversion into energy carriers in Cuba. Waste
Manage. 27 (7), 869–885.
Ardanuy, M., Antunes, M., Velasco, J.I., 2012. Vegetable fibres from agricultural
residues as thermo-mechanical reinforcement in recycled polypropylene-based
green foams. Waste Manage. 32 (2), 256–263.
Borjesson, M., Westman, G., 2016. Branching of hemicelluloses through an
azetidinium salt ring-opening reaction. Carbohyd. Res. 428, 23–30.
Chandel, A.K., da Silva, S.S., Carvalho, W., Singh, O.V., 2012. Sugarcane bagasse and
leaves: foreseeable biomass of biofuel and bio-products. J. Chem. Technol. Biot.
87 (1), 11–20.
Chang, Y., Wang, Y., Zha, F., Wang, R.M., 2004. Preparation and catalytic properties
of chitosan bound schiff base copper complexes. Polym. Adv. Technol. 15 (15),
284–286.
Chen, L., Li, A., He, X., Han, L., 2015. A multi-scale biomechanical model based on the
physiological structure and lignocellulose components of wheat straw.
Carbohyd. Polym. 133, 135–143.
Choi, I., Lee, J.Y., Lacroix, M., Han, J., 2017. Intelligent pH indicator film composed of
agar/potato starch and anthocyanin extracts from purple sweet potato. Food
Chem. 218, 122–128.
Chung, Y.L., Olsson, J.V., Li, R.J., Frank, C.W., Waymouth, R.M., Billington, S.L., Sattely,
E.S., 2013. A renewable lignin-lactide copolymer and application in biobased
composites. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 1 (10), 1231–1238.
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
9
Clarke, W.P., Radnidge, P., Lai, T.E., Jensen, P.D., Hardin, M.T., 2008. Digestion of
waste bananas to generate energy in Australia. Waste Manage. 28 (3), 527–533.
Coward-Kelly, G., Agbogbo, F.K., Holtzapple, M.T., 2006. Lime treatment of
keratinous materials for the generation of highly digestible animal feed: 2.
Animal hair. Bioresour. Technol. 97 (11), 1344–1352.
Das, O., Sarmah, A.K., Bhattacharyya, D., 2015a. A sustainable and resilient approach
through biochar addition in wood polymer composites. Sci. Total Environ. 512–
513, 326–336.
Das, O., Sarmah, A.K., Bhattacharyya, D., 2015b. A novel approach in organic waste
utilization through biochar addition in wood/polypropylene composites. Waste
Manage. 38 (1), 132–140.
Das, O., Sarmah, A.K., Bhattacharyya, D., 2016. Biocomposites from waste derived
biochars: Mechanical, thermal, chemical, and morphological properties. Waste
Manage. 49, 560–570.
Ding, A.J., Fu, C.B., Yang, X.Q., Sun, J.N., Petäjä, T., Kerminen, V.M., Nie, W., 2013.
Intense atmospheric pollution modifies weather: a case of mixed biomass
burning with fossil fuel combustion pollution in eastern China. Atmos. Chem.
Phys. 13 (20), 10545–10554.
Duan, C., Zhang, D., Wang, F., Zheng, D., Jia, L., Feng, F., Liu, Y., Wang, Y., Tian, K.,
Wang, F., Zhang, Q., 2011. Chitosan-g-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) based
nanogels for tumor extracellular targeting. Int. J. Pharm. 409, 252–259.
Emadian, S.M., Onay, T.T., Demirel, B., 2017. Biodegradation of bioplastics in natural
environments. Waste Manage. 59, 526–536.
Fan, J., Lei, T.-D., Li, J., Zhai, P.-Y., Wang, Y.-H., Cao, F.-Y., Liu, Y., 2016. High protein
content keratin/poly (ethylene oxide) nanofibers crosslinked in oxygen
atmosphere and its cell culture. Mater. Des. 104, 60–67.
Fujiki, J., Yogo, K., 2014. Carbon dioxide adsorption onto polyethylenimine –
functionalized porous chitosan beads. Energy Fuel. 28 (10), 6467–6474.
Gao, H., Huang, S., Dong, T., Yang, Q., Yi, G., 2016. Analysis of resistant starch
degradation in postharvest ripening of two banana cultivars: Focus on starch
structure and amylases. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 119, 1–8.
Goh, C.K., Valavan, S.E., Low, T.K., Tang, L.H., 2016. Effects of different surface
modification and contents on municipal solid waste incineration fly ash/epoxy
composites. Waste Manage. 58, 309–315.
Guo, J.H., Li, T., Zhao, T.T., Wang, Y., He, Y.F., Wang, R.M., 2014. Advanced in Keratin
modified materials and its applications. Polym. Bull (in Chin.) 4, 16–23.
Guo, J.H., Pan, S.J., Yin, X.C., He, Y.F., Li, T., Wang, R.M., 2015. PH-sensitive keratin-
based polymer hydrogel and its controllable drug-release behavior. J. Appl.
Polym. Sci. 132 (9), 41572.
Hatakeyama, H., Hatakeyama, T., 2009. Lignin Structure, Properties, and
Applications. Biopolymers. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 1–63.
He, Y.F., Qian, W.Z., Wang, J.F., Xiong, Y.B., Song, P.F., Wang, R.M., 2016a. High value-
added reutilization approach for waste biomass materials. Trans. CSAE 32, 1–8.
He, J., Chen, J.P., 2014. A comprehensive review on biosorption of heavy metals by
algal biomass: materials, performances, chemistry, and modeling simulation
tools. Bioresour. Technol. 160 (6), 67–78.
He, N.P., Pan, S.J., Wang, R.M., 2016b. Heat-induced self-assembly of albumin and
chitosan in aqueous solutions. Acta Polym. Sin. 1, 61–69.
He, N.P., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., Dang, X.M., 2012. Fabrication, structure and surface
charges of albumin-chitosan hybrids. Sci. China Chem. 55 (9), 1788–1795.
He, N.P., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., Zhou, Y., Wang, X.J., Pei, F., 2011. PH-induced self-
assembly of albumin and chitosan. J. Control. Release 152 (1), e208–e210.
He, W.J., He, Y.F., Yan, D.Z., Wang, Y., Wang, R.M., 2014a. Adsorption of lead ion
using polymer-modified wheat straw carboxymethylcellulose. J. Disper. Sci.
Technol. 35 (10), 1378–1385.
He, Y., He, W., Liu, S., Wang, Y., Wang, R., Huang, Y., Wang, Y., 2014b. Preparation of
carboxymethyl starchy composite flocculant and its behavior for wastewater
containing high concentration organic compounds. New Chem. Mater. (in Chin.)
42 (1), 104–106.
Hoffman, A.S., 2013. Stimuli-responsive polymers: Biomedical applications and
challenges for clinical translation. Adv. Drug Deliver. Rev. 65 (1), 10–16.
Huang, X., Li, M., Li, J., Song, Y., 2012. A high-resolution emission inventory of crop
burning in fields in China based on MODIS thermal anomalies/fire products.
Atmos. Environ. 50 (3), 9–15.
Iglesias, O., Oulego, P., Collado, S., Diaz, M., 2017. Valuable compounds from sewage
sludge by termal hydrolysis and wet oxidation. A Rev. Sci. Total Environ. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.140.
Isikgor, F.H., Becer, C.R., 2015. Lignocellulosic biomass: a sustainable platform for
the production of bio-based chemicals and polymers. Polym. Chem. 6, 4497–
4559.
Jia, R.Y., He, Y.F., Wang, R.M., Li, F.R., Wang, Y., 2008. Advanced in structure, extract
an applications of keratins. Chemistry (in Chin.) 71, 265.
Jia, S., Yang, Z., Ren, K., Tian, Z., Dong, C., Ma, R., Yang, W., 2016a. Removal of
antibiotics from water in the coexistence of suspended particles and natural
organic matters using amino-acid-modified-chitosan flocculants: A combined
experimental and theoretical study. J. Hazard. Mater. 317, 593–601.
Jia, S., Yang, Z., Yang, W., Zhang, T., Zhang, S., Yang, X., Dong, Y., Wu, J., Wang, Y.,
2016b. Removal of Cu (II) and tetracycline using an aromatic rings-
functionalized chitosan-based flocculant: enhanced interaction between the
flocculant and the antibiotic. Chem. Eng. J. 283, 495–503.
Jin, H., Lee, Y.S., Hong, I., 2007. Hydrogen adsorption characteristics of activated
carbon. Catal. Today 120, 399–406.
Jones, J.M., 2014. CODEX-aligned dietary fiber definitions help to bridge the ‘fiber
gap’. Nutr. J. 13 (1), 1–10.
Jr, V.A.P., Arruda, I.N.Q.D., Stefani, R., 2015. Active Chitosan/PVA films with
anthocyanins from brassica oleraceae, (red cabbage) as Time-Temperature
10 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
indicators for application in intelligent food packaging. Food Hydrocolloid 43
(1), 180–188.
Kaparaju, P., Serrano, M., Thomsen, A.B., Kongjan, P., Angelidaki, I., 2009. Bioethanol,
biohydrogen and biogas production from wheat straw in a biorefinery concept.
Bioresour. Technol. 100 (9), 2562–2568.
Kaya, M., Odabasi, M., Mujtaba, M., Sen, M., Bulut, E., Akyuz, B., 2016. Novel three-
dimensional cellulose produced from trunk of Astragalus gummifer (Fabaceae)
tested for protein adsorption performance. Mater. Sci. Eng.: C 62, 144–151.
Kennes, D., Abubackar, H.N., Díaz, M., Veiga, M.C., Kennes, C., 2016. Bioethanol
production from biomass: carbohydrate vs syngas fermentation. J. Chem.
Technol. Biot. 91, 304–317.
Kim, S.K. (Ed.), 2010. Chitin, Chitosan, Oligosaccharides and Their Derivatives:
Biological Activities and Applications.. CRC Press.
Komatsu, T., Wang, R.M., Zunszain, P.A., Curry, S., Tsuchida, E., 2006. Photosensitized
reduction of water to hydrogen using human serum albumin complexed with
zinc-protoporphyrin IX. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128 (50), 16297–16301.
Kong, S.H., Loh, S.K., Bachmann, R.T., Rahim, S.A., Salimon, J., 2014. Biochar from oil
palm biomass: A review of its potential and challenges. Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev. 39 (6), 729–739.
Lai, J.Y., Luo, L., 2017. Chitosan-g-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymers as
delivery carriers for intracameral pilocarpine administration. Eur. J. Pharm.
Biophar. 113, 140–148.
Latha, P.P., Bhatt, M., Jain, S.L., 2015. Sustainable catalysis using magnetic chicken
feathers decorated with Pd (0) for Suzuki-cross coupling reaction. Tetrahedron
Lett. 56 (42), 5718–5722.
Li, I., Diederick, R., Flora, J.R.V., Berge, N.D., 2013a. Hydrothermal carbonization of
food waste and associated packaging materials for energy source generation.
Waste Manage. 33 (11), 2478–2492.
Li, F.Y., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., Li, X.X., Song, P.F., Ying, X.C., Mao, C.W., 2011a. Keratin
films from chicken feathers for controlled drug release. J. Control. Release 152,
e92–e93.
Li, J., Liu, K., Yan, S., Li, Y., Han, D., 2016a. Application of thermal plasma technology
for the treatment of solid wastes in china: an overview. Waste Manage. 58,
260–269.
Li, S., Zhu, D., Li, K., Yang, Y., Lei, Z., Zhang, Z., 2013b. Soybean curd residue:
composition, utilization, and related limiting factors. ISRN Ind. Eng article ID
423590.
Li, T., Yin, X.C., Zhai, W.Z., He, Y.F., Wang, R.M., 2016b. Enzymatic digestion of
keratin for preparing a pH-sensitive biopolymer hydrogel. Aust. J. Chem. 69 (2),
191–197.
Li, X.X., Li, G., He, Y.F., Wang, R.M., 2011b. Adv. Polym. Antioxidants. Chem. (in Chin.)
74 (4), 316–324.
Li, X.X., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., Pei, F., Zhao, T.T., 2013c. Feather keratin binding
transition metal ions for mimicking antioxidant enzyme. J. Control. Release 172
(1), e136–e137.
Liu, B., Han, X., Zhao, H., Wei, L., Zhao, L., Yuan, L., 2017. Preparation and
characterization of intelligent starch/PVA films for simultaneous colorimetric
indication and antimicrobial activity for food packaging applications. Carbohyd.
Polym. 157, 842–849.
Liu, J., Lv, S.Y., He, Y.F., Pei, F., Wang, R.M., 2015a. Preparation and controllable
release behavior of edible zein hybrid nanoparticles. J. Control. Release 213,
e94–e95.
Liu, J., Pei, F., He, Y.F., Xu, Z.L., Li, T., Wang, R.M., 2015b. Preparation and controllable
release behaviors of zein/chitosan composite nanoparticles. Chem. Res. Appl.
27, 184–188.
Liu, Z., Zhou, X., Chen, X., Dai, C., Zhang, J., Zhang, Y., 2013. Biosorption of clofibric
acid and carbamazepine in aqueous solution by agricultural waste rice straw. J.
Environ. Sci. 25 (12), 2384–2395.
Lombardi, L., Carnevale, E., Corti, A., 2015. A review of technologies and
performances of thermal treatment systems for energy recovery from waste.
Waste Manage. 37, 26–44.
Lv, W.H., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., Wang, B.Y., Guo, J.F., 2009. Progress in humidity-
controlling coatings. Paint Coat. Ind. 39 (2), 59–63.
Lv, W.H., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., Zhang, H.F., 2008. Preparation and application of
smart coatings. Prog. Chem. 20 (2), 351–361.
Ma, G., Yang, Q., Sun, K., Peng, H., Ran, F., Zhao, X., Lei, Z., 2015a. Nitrogen-doped
porous carbon derived from biomass waste for high-performance
supercapacitor. Bioresour. Technol. 197, 137–142.
Ma, W., Meng, F., Cheng, Z., Xin, G., Duan, S., 2015b. Synthesis of macroporous silica
biomass nanocomposite based on XG/MgSiO3 for the removal of toxic ions.
Bioresour. Technol. 186, 356–359.
Mao, C.W., Wang, R.M., Zhang, H.F., He, Y.F., Tao, J.D., Ying, X.C., 2011. A novel dual
stimuli-responsive drug carrier biomaterial based on BSA/PVP polymers. J.
Control. Release 152, e68–e70.
Marcelo, G., López-González, M., Trabado, I., Rodrigo, M.M., Valiente, M., Mendicuti,
F., 2016. Lignin inspired peg hydrogels for drug delivery. Mater. Today
Commun. 7, 73–80.
Marcet, I., Alvarez, C., Paredes, B., Diaz, M., 2016. The use of sub-critical water
hydrolysis for the recovery of peptides and free amino acids from food
processing wastes. Review of sources and main parameters. Waste Manage. 49,
364–371.
Montazeri, M., Eckelman, M.J., 2016. Life cycle assessment of catechols from lignin
depolymerization. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 4 (3), 708–718.
Moon, R.J., Martini, A., Nairn, J., Simonsen, J., Youngblood, J., 2011. Cellulose
nanomaterials review: structure, properties and nanocomposites. ChemInform
42 (42), 3941–3994.
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
Moreno, A.I., Font, R., Conesa, J.A., 2016. Physical and chemical evaluation of
furniture waste briquettes. Waste Manage. 49, 245–252.
Naziri, E., Nenadis, N., Mantzouridou, F.T., Tsimidou, M.Z., 2014. Valorization of the
major agrifood industrial by-products and waste from Central Macedonia
(Greece) for the recovery of compounds for food applications. Food Res. Int. 65
(8), 350–358.
Numata, K., Morisaki, K., 2015. Screening of marine bacteria to synthesize
polyhydroxyalkanoate from Lignin: contribution of lignin derivatives to
biosynthesis by oceanimonas doudoroffii. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 3 (4), 569–
573.
Oladeji, J.T., Oyetunji, O.R., 2013. Investigations into physical and fuel
characteristics of briquettes produced from cassava and yam peels. J. Energy
Technol. Policy 3, 40–46.
Pan, S., Yin, X., He, Y.F., Xiong, Y., Wang, R.M., 2015. Influence of preparation
conditions on the properties of keratin-based polymer hydrogel. Arab. J. Sci.
Eng. 40, 2853–2859.
Pan, S.J., He, Y.F., Li, G., Da, W.Y., Wang, R.M., 2008. Study on the flocculating
properties of biopolymeric flocculant BF SVI-SD. Technol. Water Treat. 34 (8),
38–41.
Poulsen, T.G., Adelard, L., 2016. Improving biogas quality and methane yield via co-
digestion of agricultural and urban biomass wastes. Waste Manage. 54, 118–
125.
Quispe, I., Navia, R., Kahhat, R., 2016. Energy potential from rice husk through direct
combustion and fast pyrolysis: a review. Waste Manage. 59, 200–210.
Raak, N., Symmank, C., Zahn, S., Aschemann-Witzel, J., Rohm, H., in press.
Processing-and product-related causes for food waste and implications for the
food supply chain. Waste Manage. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
wasman.2016.12.027 (in press).
Rocha, G.J.M., Gonçalves, A.R., Oliveira, B.R., Olivares, E.G., Rossell, C.E.V., 2012.
Steam explosion pretreatment reproduction and alkaline delignification
reactions performed on a pilot scale with sugarcane bagasse for bioethanol
production. Ind. Crop. Prod. 35 (1), 274–279.
Saba, N., Paridah, M.T., Jawaid, M., Abdan, K., Ibrahim, N.A., 2015. Potential
Utilization of Kenaf Biomass in Different Applications. Agricultural Biomass
Based Potential Materials. Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–34.
Saucier, C., Adebayo, M.A., Lima, E.C., Cataluña, R., Thue, P.S., Prola, L.D., Dotto, G.L.,
2015. Microwave-assisted activated carbon from cocoa shell as adsorbent for
removal of sodium diclofenac and nimesulide from aqueous effluents. J. Hazard.
Mater. 289, 18–27.
Shoulders, M.D., Raines, R.T., 2009. Collagen structure and stability. Annu. Rev.
Biochem. 78, 929–958.
Shui, Y.H., Song, H.Y., Feng, X.L., Li, Q.Q., Jiang, Y., 2012. Study on decolorization for
dye wastewater by adsorption-microwave degradation activated carbon from
bean dregs. Adv. Mater. Res. 581–582, 214–218.
Singh, R., Krishna, B.B., Kumar, J., Bhaskar, T., 2016. Opportunities for utilization of
non-conventional energy sources for biomass pretreatment. Bioresour. Technol.
199, 398–407.
Song, H.H., Li, H., Wang, H., Key, J., Ji, S., Mao, X.F., Wang, R.F., 2014. Chicken bone-
derived N-doped porous carbon materials as an oxygen reduction
electrocatalyst. Electrochim. Acta 147, 520–526.
Steur, H.D., Wesana, J., Dora, M.K., Pearce, D., Gellynck, X., 2016. Applying value
stream mapping to reduce food losses and wastes in supply chains: a systematic
review. Waste Manage. 58, 359–368.
Suhas, Gupta V.K., Carrott, P.J., Singh, R., Chaudhary, M., Kushwaha, S., 2016.
Cellulose: A review as natural modified and activated carbon adsorbent.
Bioresour. Technol. 216, 1066–1076.
Sun, D., Lan, Y., Xu, E.G., Meng, J., Chen, W., 2016a. Biochar as a novel niche for
culturing microbial communities in composting. Waste Manage. 54, 93–100.
Sun, S., Bai, R., Gu, Y., 2014. From waste biomass to solid support: lignosulfonate as
a cost-effective and renewable supporting material for catalysis. Chem. (A Eur.
J). 20 (2), 549–558. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201303364.
Sun, Y., Li, H., Li, G., Gao, B., Yue, Q., Li, X., 2016b. Characterization and ciprofloxacin
adsorption properties of activated carbons prepared from biomass wastes by
H3PO4 activation. Bioresour. Technol. 217, 239–244.
Sun, Y., Zhu, C., Sun, W., Xu, Y., Xiao, X., Zheng, H., et al., 2017. Plasma-initiated
polymerization of chitosan-based CS-g-P (AM-DMDAAC) flocculant for the
enhanced flocculation of low-algal-turbidity water. Carbohyd. Polym., 222–232
Sun, Y.M., Li, G.X., Zhang, F.D., Shi, C.L., Sun, Z.J., 2005. Status quo and developmental
strategy of agricultural residues resources in China. Trans. Chin. Soc. Agric. Eng.
21, 169–173.
Swain, M.R., Krishnan, C., 2015. Improved conversion of rice straw to ethanol and
xylitol by combination of moderate temperature ammonia pretreatment and
sequential fermentation using Candida tropicalis. Ind. Crop. Prod. 77, 1039–
1046.
Tan, Z., Chen, K., Liu, P., 2015. Possibilities and challenges of China’s forestry
biomass resource utilization. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 41 (41), 368–378.
Tao, J.D., He, Y.F., Yang, C.X., Wang, R.M., Mao, C.W., 2012. Advanced in extraction,
modification, and utilization of the active constituents from beandregs. Nat.
Prod. Res. Dev. 24 (5), 702–707.
Torres, J.A., Chen, Y.C., Rodrigo-Garcia, J., Jaczynski, J., Shahidi, F., 2007. In: Shahidi,
F. (Ed.), Maximising the Value of Marine By-Products. Elsevier, pp. 65–90.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1533/9781845692087.1.65.
Urrea, J., Collado, S., Oulego, P., Mario, M., 2017. Formation and degradation of
soluble biopolymers during wet oxidation of sludge. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02664.
 J. Wang et al. / Waste Management xxx (2017) xxx–xxx
Vaisanen, T., Haapala, A., Lappalainen, R., Tomppo, L., 2016. Utilization of
agricultural and forest industry waste and residues in natural fiber-polymer
composites: A review. Waste Manage. 54, 62–73.
Wan, A.C.A., Tai, B.C.U., 2013. CHITIN-A promising biomaterial for tissue
engineering and stem cell technologies. Biotechnol. Adv. 31 (8), 1776–1785.
Wang, D., Zhao, T., Yan, L., Mi, Z., Qiang, G., Zhang, Y., 2016a. Synthesis,
characterization and evaluation of dewatering properties of chitosan-grafting
DMDAAC flocculants. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 92, 761–768.
Wang, D.J., Chen, H., Xu, H., Sun, J.M., Xu, Y.Y., 2014a. Preparation of wheat straw
matrix-g-polyacrylonitrile-based adsorbent by SET-LRP and its applications for
heavy metal ion removal. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. 2 (7), 1843–1848.
Wang, H., Gurau, G., Rogers, R.D., 2012. Ionic liquid processing of cellulose. Chem.
Soc. Rev. 41 (4), 1519–1537.
Wang, H., Wang, K., Song, H., Li, H., Ji, S., Wang, Z., Wang, R.F., 2015a. N-doped
porous carbon material made from fish-bones and its highly electrocatalytic
performance in the oxygen reduction reaction. RSC Adv. 5 (60), 48965–48970.
Wang, Q., Lian, J., Ma, Q., Bai, Y., Tong, J., Zhong, J., Wang, R., Huang, H., Su, B., 2015b.
Photodegradation of Rhodamine B over a novel photocatalyst of feather keratin
decorated CdS under visible light irradiation. New J. Chem. 39 (9), 7112–7119.
Wang, R.F., Wang, K., Wang, Z.H., Song, H.H., Wang, H., Ji, S., 2015c. Pig bones
derived N-doped carbon with multi-level pores as electrocatalyst for oxygen
reduction. J. Power Sources 297, 295–301.
Wang, R.M., He, N.P., He, Y.F., Xie, Y.T., Wang, Y.P., Tsuchida, E., 2005. The
preparation of nano-scope chitosan-oligomer copper complexes and their
interaction with DNA. Polym. Adv. Technol. 16 (8), 638–641.
Wang, R.M., Li, F.Y., Wang, X.J., Li, Q.F., He, Y.F., Wang, Y.B., 2010a. The application of
feather keratin and its derivatives in treatment of potato starch wastewater.
Funct. Mater. Lett. 3, 213–216.
Wang, R.M., Li, G., Zhang, H.F., He, Y.F., He, N.P., Lei, Z.Q., 2010b. Preparation of
albumin-PAA nanocapsules and their controlled release behavior for drugs.
Polym. Adv. Technol. 21 (10), 685–690.
Wang, R.M., Sun, K.Q., Wang, J.F., He, Y.F., Song, P.F., Xiong, Y.B., 2016b. Preparation
and application of natural polymer/hydroxyapatite composite. Prog. Chem. 28,
885–895.
Wang, R.M., Wang, H., Wang, Y., Li, H.R., He, Y.F., Hao, E.X., 2014b. Preparation and
photocatalytic activity of chitosan-supported cobalt phthalocyanine membrane.
Color. Technol. 130 (1), 32–36.
Wang, R.M., Wang, X.W., Guo, J.F., He, Y.F., Jiang, M.L., 2013. Crosslinkable potato
starch-based graft copolymer emulsion for humidity controlling coatings.
Mater. Res. 16 (6), 1246–1253.
Wang, R.M., Yang, Y.L., Li, C.H., He, Y.F., Tao, J.D., 2014c. Synthesis and release
behavior of soybean protein isolate-poly(n-isopropyl acrylamide) composite
nanospheres. J. Northwest Nor. Univ. (Nat. Sci.). 50, 68–80.
Wang, X.J., Wang, R.M., He, Y.F., He, N.P., Pei, F., 2011. Advanced on modification and
application of soy protein isolate. Chemistry (In Chin.) 74 (5), 396–401.
Wang, X.W., He, Y.F., Wang, R.M., Wang, J.F., Liu, F.R., 2015d. Preparation of
carboxymethyl cellulose grafted acrylate copolymer emulsion and its
application in humidity controlling coatings. Petrochem. Technol. 41 (12),
1412–1417.
Wei, X., Li, H.R., Wang, L., He, Y.F., Wang, R.M., 2014. Soybean hulls residue
adsorbent for rapid removal of lead ions. Pure Appl. Chem. 86 (5), 711–720.
Wong, S.L., Ngadi, N., Abdullah, T.A.T., Inuwa, I.M., 2015. Current state and future
prospects of plastic waste as source of fuel: A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy
Rev. 50, 1167–1180.
Wu, Z.M., Zhang, S.F., He, Y.F., Zhai, W.Z., Wang, R.M., 2014. Preparation of
Waterborne Polyurethane-Polyacrylate Miniemulsion and Its Application in
Humidity Controlling Coatings. Fine Chem. 31, 649–663.
Please cite this article in press as: Wang, J., et al. Reutilization of discarded biomass for preparing functional polymer materials. Waste Management
(2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.04.025
11
Xia, Y., Massé, D.I., McAllister, T.A., Kong, Y., Seviour, R., Beaulieu, C., 2012. Identity
and diversity of archaeal communities during anaerobic co-digestion of chicken
feathers and other animal wastes. Bioresour. Technol. 110 (4), 111–119.
Xiao, Y., He, P., Cheng, W., Liu, J., Shan, W., Song, H., 2016. Converting solid wastes
into liquid fuel using a novel methanolysis process. Waste Manage. 49, 304–
310.
Xiong, Y.B., Liu, J.J., Wang, Y.J., Wang, H., Wang, R.M., 2012a. One-Step synthesis of
thermosensitive nanogels based on highly cross-linked poly (ionic liquid)s.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 51 (36), 9114–9118.
Xiong, Y.B., Wang, H., Wu, C.Y., Wang, R.M., 2012b. Preparation and characterization
chitosan-ionic liquid composite membranes. Polym. Adv. Technol. 23 (11),
1429–1434.
Xu, Q., Chen, C., Rosswurm, K., Yao, T., Janaswamy, S., 2016. A facile route to prepare
cellulose-based films. Carbohyd. Polym. 149, 274–281.
Yang, H., Peng, Z., Zhou, Y., Zhao, F., Zhang, J., Cao, X., Hu, Z., 2011. Preparation and
performances of a novel intelligent humidity control composite material.
Energy Build. 43 (2–3), 386–392.
Yang, R., Li, H., Huang, M., Yang, H., Li, A., 2016. A review on chitosan-based
flocculants and their applications in water treatment. Water Res. 95, 59–89.
Yang, Y.L., He, Y.F., Liu, J., Wang, Y., Wang, R.M., 2014. Advances in preparations and
applications of zein based polymer materials. Chemistry (in Chin) 77 (8), 771–
777.
Yin, X.C., Li, F.Y., He, Y.F., Wang, Y., Wang, R.M., 2013. Study on effective extraction
of chicken feather keratins and their films for controlling drug release.
Biomater. Sci. 1, 528–536.
Yoon, Y.M., Kim, S.H., Oh, S.Y., Kim, C.H., 2014. Potential of anaerobic digestion for
material recovery and energy production in waste biomass from a poultry
slaughterhouse. Waste Manage. 34 (1), 204–209.
Yu, J., Sun, L., Ma, C., Qiao, Y., Yao, H., 2016. Thermal degradation of PVC: A review.
Waste Manage. 48, 300–314.
Zeng, X., Ma, Y., Ma, L., 2007. Utilization of straw in biomass energy in China. Renew.
Sustain Energy Rev. 11 (5), 976–987.
Zhang, X., He, Y.F., Pan, S.J., Zhang, L., Liu, S.L., Wang, R.M., 2010a. Structure and
flocculating mechanism of extra-cellular biopolymer flocculant BF SVI-SD. J. Saf.
Environ. 10 (6), 54–57.
Zhang, Z., Engling, G., Lin, C.Y., Chou, C.C.K., Lung, S.C.C., Chang, S.Y., Zhang, Y.H.,
2010b. Chemical speciation, transport and contribution of biomass burning
smoke to ambient aerosol in Guangzhou, a mega city of China. Atmos. Environ.
44 (26), 3187–3195.
Zhang, Z., Li, H., Yang, Y., Key, J., Ji, S., Ma, Y., Wang, H., Wang, R., 2015. Cow dung-
derived nitrogen-doped carbon as a cost effective, high activity, oxygen
reduction electrocatalyst. RSC Adv. 5 (34), 27112–27119.
Zhou, C.C., Liu, G.J., Wang, X.D., Qi, C.C., 2016a. Co-combustion of bituminous coal
and biomass fuel blends: Thermochemical characterization, potential
utilization and environmental advantage. Bioresour. Technol. 218, 418–427.
Zhou, T., Zhu, Y., Li, X., Liu, X., Yeung, K.W.K., Wu, S., Wang, X., Cui, Z., Yang, X., Chu,
P.K., 2016b. Surface functionalization of biomaterials by radical polymerization.
Prog. Mater Sci. 83, 191–235.
Zhu, L., Hu, N., Zhang, Z., Xu, J., Tao, B., Meng, Y., 2015. Short-term responses of soil
organic carbon and carbon pool management index to different annual straw
return rates in a rice-wheat cropping system. CATENA 135, 283–289.
Zhu, X., Li, X., Xiao, L., Zhang, X., Tong, S., Wu, C., Ashida, R., Liu, W., Miura, K., Yao, H.,
2016. Novel carbon-rich additives preparation by degradative solvent
extraction of biomass wastes for coke-making. Bioresour. Technol. 207, 85–91.