Biodegradable Polymers in the Circular Plastics Economy

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. Stefaan De Wildeman is director at B4Plastics - a young start-up company that has the mission to "make ecological plastic consumption easier". By designing novel plastic products for their eco-balanced application from scratch, the company offers custom made oligomeric and polymeric material products with outcompeting eco-profile at acceptable cost. As from 2017, under his guidance, B4Plastics entered into several Belgian and European subsidy programs with leading value chain players in the field of ecological materials sourcing and use. Since 2018, he took the dedicated role of managing director at B4Plastics to further expand the specialty bioplastic product portfolio in both B2C and B2B products and services. Typically, B4plastics engages in design of materials from scratch, prototyping them into first kilograms within several months, and guiding the manufacturing to full scale implementation.

Preface
1) Biodegradable Polymers - A Tutorial for a Circular Plastics Economy
2) Fundamentals of Polymer Biodegradation Mechanisms
3) Plastic Pollution. The Role of (Bio)degradable Plastics, and other Solutions
4) Tutorial on Polymers - Manufacture, Properties, and Applications
5) Condensation Polyesters
6) 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