Circularity of plastics as a potential solution to reduce microplastics: recycled pp/coconut fiber or sugarcane bagasse composites
International Journal of Development Research
Circularity of plastics as a potential solution to reduce microplastics: recycled pp/coconut fiber or sugarcane bagasse composites
Received 20th July, 2022; Received in revised form 27th July, 2022; Accepted 13th August, 2022; Published online 20th September, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Roberta A. P. Fernandes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
It is imperative to improve understanding of plastic losses throughout the plastics value chain and to develop appropriate strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts of plastics. To encourage the circularity of plastics, in this work composites based on virgin and recycled polypropylene and two types of natural fiber (coconut and sugarcane bagasse) with or without content of 10% by weight were prepared in a mono-screw extruder. Pelletized samples obtained by extrusion were stamped from plates obtained by compression in a bench press and these materials were characterized through measurement of density, hardness and melt flow index (MFI). The density results indicated good fiber-matrixadhesion for all types of fiber and matrix used. A slight decrease in the hardness of formulations in relation to the matrix was associated with uneven distribution of fibers in the matrix. The MFI results were sufficient for these materials to be submitted to traditional polymer processing methods.
