DIMI's "Green Polymers for Environmental Sustainability" group aims to promote research activities concerning the recycling of polymeric materials, including the more general aspect of promoting techniques or technologies that enable the reduction of plastic waste through the development of new biodegradable polymeric materials from renewable sources, and the development of bioplastics. More specifically, the research concerns:
1) the development of techniques for the separation and analysis of mixed plastic fractions, reactive compounding of homogeneous and/or heterogeneous plastics, morphological, thermal, mechanical and rheological characterisation of the raw-material in order to identify the most appropriate field of application;
2) the development of bioplastics, elastomer-based materials and new biodegradable materials with specific functional properties from industrial waste, exhausted materials and slag. A number of materials useful for example in packaging or in agriculture for weed control have been designed and patented, with the aim of developing sustainable systems without generating waste at the end of their useful life;
3) the development of polymeric materials and polycarbonates with advanced properties from carbon dioxide.
Many research activities are carried out in collaboration with other research institutes (Italian and foreign), as well as with Italian companies and consortia.
Address:
Laboratorio di "Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali" del DIMI - Via Branze 38, 25123 BRESCIA
date/time interval:
(January 1, 2004 - )