Annual/Termination Reports:

[05/17/2013] [09/10/2014] [01/14/2015] [02/01/2016] [08/16/2016] [12/12/2016] [02/12/2018]

Report Information

Participants

Patricia Annis - University of Georgia; Jonathan Chen - University of Texas, Austin; Douglas Hayes - University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Majid Sarmadi - University of Wisconsin, Madison; Suraj Sharma - University of Georgia; Yiqi Yang - University of Nebraska, Lincoln;


By Conference Call: Robert Shulstad, Administrative Advisor;

Visitor: Sandy Daubenmire - University of Georgia

Brief Summary of Minutes

The S-1054 Multistate Research Project Annual Meeting, held in the conference room of the Holiday Inn Express, 2920 Clairmont Rd NE, Atlanta, was called to order by chair person, Dr. Sharma, at 9:00 am on Monday, May 6th, 2013. Dr. Daubenmire was acknowledged for her arrangements for the meeting room, refreshments and hotel reservation discount.

A motion to accept the printed agenda was made by Dr. Sharma and seconded by Dr. Yang. Motion passed.

Welcome and introductions were made by each participating member. Dr. Chen reported that UT, Austin is not a land grant university, so he will not have travel funds in the future. Dr. Sarmadi from UW, Madison also faces funding cuts.

Conference call was made by Dr. Sharma to Dr. Robert Shulstad, Adminstrative Advisor at 10:00 am.

Dr. Shulstad welcomed the attendees and explained the reason for the conference call. The content of the call covered the S-1054 project, the time frame, budgets cuts changing emphases, such as resources, food security, food safety, nutrition, STEM program which is related to global agriculture production problem program, extension, new agriculture education, sustainable application, sustainability minority program, and critical agriculture production. The funding to the land grant universities is shrinking. There was also discussions on the Farm Bill and DOE funding.

The project is from Jan.1st, 2013 to Dec. 30th, 2018. Each station needs to write its own report. USDA requires an annual report for this project.

Accomplishments

Goals are 1). To develop value added bio-products  fibers, textiles; barrier fabrics and novel finishes; scaffolds for tissue engineering; biothermoplastics and thermosets; crop covers and mulches; 2). Make textile industry sustainable  materials from agricultural byproducts and coproducts; cleaner processing technologies<br /> <br /> Four objectives:<br /> <br /> Objective 1. To develop novel biobased polymeric materials (NE, GA, TX, WI, MT, NY and CA)<br /> <br /> Dr. Yang will produce fibrous product and polymers. Dr. Yang is doing D-lactide PLA. Dr. Sarmadi can make plasma treatments and make hydrophobic and hydrophilic products. He can do film, yarns, paper or non-woven fabric  continuous and stationary treatments with small samples under vacuum. <br /> <br /> Dr. Sharma is working on Algae cells, low energy tech. extracts protein and lipids for fibrous products. Use algae cells to producing other plastics. Investigating odor from algae extracts and other properties of algae extracts. Algae particle size (less than 10 micron) is crucial in developing algae-based fibers and films. This can be achieved through jet milling other advanced milling processes.<br /> <br /> Drs Sharma and Annis can do physical and mechanical testing. Put lab characterizations on the website lab from all members so other members can have access for the technical supports. UGA has ultraviolet fadeometer and weatherometer for fabric colorfastness testing <br /> <br /> Cotton fibers were discussed by Dr. Chen, Dr. Sarmadi and Dr. Yang.<br /> Dr. Chen will develop regenerated cellulose from lignocellulosic agricultural byproducts.<br /> <br /> Dr. Hayes is able to do biodegradation.<br /> <br /> Recommended Dr. Eric Belasco  Montana State University to do life cycle analysis<br /> <br /> Objective 2. To develop and evaluate biobased fibrous products for eco-friendly crop protection (TN, WA, NY, WI and MT)<br /> <br /> Dr. Hayes and Dr. Yang are collaborating and working together on biodegradable non-woven mulches from PLA, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and their blends. <br /> Dr. Hayes reported his research on biodegradability of agricultural mulches from PLA and PHA. It has half year and one year service life and into soil, hopefully into carbon dioxide. However, the byproduct of degraded material is resistant to weathering and biodegradation in the soil. Due to the USDA funding is toward fruits and vegetables, growers use those mulches. It requires sociologists, material science, soil science. Field testing studies are done in TN, WA and TX. Using road covers on growing fruits and vegetables, scientists will continue to research on PLA and PHA. The changes of mulches will not be seen within 1 or 2 years, but the materials should begin to be biodegraded into a new biological eco-system in the soil.<br /> <br /> Starting 1980, these mulches have been used. However, its field testing varied due to soil types and consistency, focusing on WA and TN now considering the cool air in WA. So far, the altitude is not considered, even it is doing at SE region. So far the material did not want to be biodegradable and is sunlight resistant. <br /> <br /> Dr. Hayes recommended Dr. Thomas Marsh from Washington State University to do evaluation on landfill wastes.<br /> <br /> Dr. Hayes is also writing a proposal to do some nano fibers textile products. <br /> <br /> Dr. Hayes and colleagues are working together for biodegradable products.<br /> <br /> Dr. Yang is doing poly-lactic acid, needs others to assist to improve the functionality of PLA, because PLA is very easy to be biodegradable. D-lactide based PLA can be degraded into herbicides. <br /> <br /> Dr. Sarmadi suggested the material to treat (plasma) with argon under an atmospheric pressure; then the increase of surface area will facilitate microbial and water activities. Will this process be done by growers or not? It is done in production. For example, PLA can be made to be fibrous products or not. PHA is biodegradable, may not work well in compost condition.<br /> Dr. Sharma mentioned that algae protein may help the PLA to bind and become extrudable to be fibers. <br /> <br /> Dr. Sarmadi mentioned that the use of isolate the bacteria to work on polyester. <br /> <br /> Objective 3. To develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications (NE, WI, TN, WA, CA, MT and NY)<br /> <br /> Dr. Sarmadi talked about using plasma to create new fiber product and designs for textile and apparel products to address fire safety issues. Many articles have been published in this area.<br /> <br /> Dr. Yang mentioned that surface treatment to address safety issues. Dr. Yang has done the experiment and published the paper.<br /> <br /> Dr. Sharma is proposing pine needle as a new fiber product for textile and apparel products to address fire safety issues. Pine needle is a herbicide itself, no weeds will grow under pine needle.<br /> <br /> Cotton, linen and rayon have been used in this area. We are searching more new materials to be biobased products for health and safety applications. Testing need to be more specific for different uses, such as pillow case is totally different from childrens wear. <br /> <br /> Keep open for other group members to do the development of nanofibers from proteins and starches and characterize their effectiveness for bacteria catching efficiency.<br /> <br /> Objective 4: To develop and evaluate methods to remove dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water (WI, GA, NE, CA and MT)<br /> <br /> Dr. Sarmadi presented on Titanium Oxide Catalyst under Ultraviolet Radiation done by his research group. Developed a mathematical model to evaluate dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water. Also it is to use this system to catch the heat. Using titanium oxide catalyst under ultraviolet radiation voltage and current methods to measure the relationship between absorbance and wavelength in the textile waste water in WI, the most commonly used dyes  reactive Red 120, Blue 19 and Black 5 disappeared in the waste water within two days. Within two - five days dyes molecules are destroyed in deionized water. No trace of the organic molecules is found in the dye water. Photo-Electro Catalytic Oxidation (PECO) of reactive dyes as the control group. Measure the pH. Use 7 volts in a semi-closed fish tank. UV of treated waste water is identical as the deionized water. The reduction of pH from alkaline into neutral, it indicated that CO2 reduction. NMR also indicated that there is no organic molecules. There is a relationship between concentrations of the dyes with the absorbance numbers. Colorfastness of dyes will be applied. In the future, all kinds of dyes will be tested. Acidic dyes, organic dyes, natural pigments will be tested. Effects of salt conc. in the water was also investigated in the relation with current usage.<br /> <br /> Overall suggestions made by Dr. Sarmadi, Dr. Hayes, Dr. Sharma, and Dr. Yang for the collaborations of the Project S-1054<br /> <br /> 1. Closely collaborative works together and communicate the collaborated project continuously<br /> <br /> 2. Make it a major project, instead of several small projects<br /> <br /> 3. Make each objective stronger by each others assistance<br /> <br /> 4. Facilitate letter supports, funding for travel, techniques, <br /> methodologies and laboratories supports, and analysis improvements.<br /> <br /> 5. Labs inventory accessibility on the websites for all the committee members are needed <br /> <br /> 6. Need an agriculture economist to evaluate the economics of the products and processes development<br /> <br /> 7. Need an extension specialist to assimilate the research information to educate textile industries.

Publications

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

Brief Summary of Minutes

Objective 1: To Develop Novel Biobased Polymeric Materials (NE, GA, TX, WI, MT, NY and CA

1. Biodegradable Green Composites

Corrugated composites were developed by Cornell University scientist using starch based emulsion-type biodegradable resin and newspaper print. While starch is plant-based and fully renewable, newspaper print is also produced mainly from wood pulp. Once used for just one day, much of the newspaper is collected but not used effectively. These composites can be used in many applications as they have excellent mechanical properties. Thus the composites provide a high-value-added outlet for this agricultural waste. The entire composites can be composted after their intended life to create organic soil. They can replace the current composites made using petroleum based resins.
In another example, Cornell fabricated soy protein based composites that were reinforced using jute fabrics. In some cases the resin properties were enhanced using halloysite nanotubes (HNT). The composites were characterized for their fire performance. Jute fibers can readily catch fire and burn easily. However, the soy protein based resin does not support burning. As a result, the composites showed excellent fire resistance. At present several toxic chemicals are used to improve fire resistance of composites. The composites developed in this study were inherently fire resistant. Addition of HNT also was seen to improve the fire performance of the composites. These green composites would be suitable for housing and interior furnishings.

2. Advanced Green Composites

Most green composites made using natural fibers such as jute, kenaf, etc., have moderate strength and stiffness similar to wood and wood-based products such as plywood, particle board or medium density fiber boards. They can be used as replacement of wood in many applications. Our efforts were to make very strong and tough composites that may replace aramid fiber (e.g. Kevlar) based composites that are used for ballistic protections. We utilized liquid crystalline cellulose fibers which have strength in the range of about 1600 MPa and fracture strain between 5-10%. In the present case the fibers were treated with KOH solution to improve their mechanical properties. Treated fibers were used to fabricate unidirectional composites using soy protein based resin. The KOH treatment increased the fiber strength significantly. This improved strength was also transferred to the composite properties. With 65% fiber volume, it should be possible to obtain composite strength of over 1 GPa, making them truly advanced green composites. Their toughness was also high and can replace composites currently used in ballistic applications.

3. Fibers and Thermoplastics from Agricultural Byproducts

Nebraska has worked on developing fibers and thermoplastics from agricultural byproducts and co-products for textiles, composites and medical applications. This year, they have developed thermoplastic films from peanut meals, chicken feathers, and acetylated rice straws for potential uses in composites, films, and other materials. They initiated an approach of using proteins and distillers grains as textile sizes to substitute PVA and other petrobased nonbiodegradable sizing materials. They collaborated with Chinese scientists and developed high modulus silicates enhanced PLA films. They also characterized some unusual natural silk fibers produced by insects in the United States for potential textile and medical applications.

4. Nanocellulose from Biomass

Fibrous materials are intrinsically high specific surface. Coupled with many uniquely attractive engineering properties, fibers are excellent and versatile templates for surface active applications. Miniaturizying fiber dimensions further expand advantages. Nanocellulose derived by chemical and mechanical defibrillation of pure cellulose isolated from various biomass can be assembled into fibrous and porous network as ultra-high specific surface templates. Electrospinning coupled with chemical modification approaches have also generated nanofiber templates for the development of highly sensitive and efficient absorbents and sensors. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers were prepared by Uiversity of California Davis using electrospinning, they were then modified with hydroxylamine to synthesize amidoxime polyacrylonitrile (AOPAN) chelating nanofibers as cationic absorbents. Chemical reaction can be tuned to varied degrees of nitrile conversion into amidoxime groups while retain surface topography. The adsorption abilities of Cu2+ and Fe3+ ions onto the AOPAN nanofiber mats were improved to reach maximal adsorption capacities of 215.18 and 221.37 mg/g, respectively, both fitting the Langmuir isotherm. A highly sensitive coating comprising 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) monolayer modified electrospun polystyrene (PS) membranes was also constructed by sputter coating with gold, then, modified with self-assembled monolayer of MPA. The optimal PS-MPA sensors showed fast response (2-3 s) to Cu2+ at a 100 ppb detection limit. The sensor responses were reproducible toward Cu2+ in the 100 ppb-5 ppm concentration range, whereas the responses showed good linearity in the 100 ppb to 1 ppm concentration range. The sensor response to Cu2+ was low at pH 2 but increased rapidly reaching the maximum value at pH 7. Moreover, the sensors also exhibited chelation selectivity for other transition metal ions in the descending order Cu2+>Ni2+>Zn2+>Fe2+ at 1 to 5 ppm concentrations.

5. Nonwoven Composite

In the natural fiber nonwoven composite research, continuous efforts were made for the determination of thermal press conditions that could result in better mechanical, acoustical, and thermal properties for kenaf/PP nonwoven composite. Compression molding temperature, time, and pressure were studied by Texas researchers. The composite tensile modulus, shear modulus, bending modulus, and impact strength were measured. The kenaf/PP composite linearity of stress-strain relationship was evaluated using finite element method (FEM). Notch effect on the composite tensile strength was assessed using open-hole (OHT) and filled-hole (FHT) testing methods. Kenaf and PP fiber thermal decomposition was evaluated using TGA. The kenaf/PP composite dynamic mechanical behavior was tested using DMA. Noise absorption and noise insulation of the kenaf/PP composite were measured using the B&K acoustical instrument. The research revealed that temperature and time were most significant processing factors. Higher heating temperature and loner press time could obtain a stiffer and stronger kenaf/PP composite. In contrast, lower heating temperature and shorter press time would produce layered bonding structure with lower rigidities, higher impact strength, and higher noise absorption and insulation. The kenaf/PP composite was more thermally stable than virgin PP plastic. The notch effect study indicated that the kenaf/PP composite is relatively insensitive to notch effect, showing a ducktile-like behavior for stress concentration. In the case of pin-filled holes, hole-width ratio was a critical factor to determine tensile strength.

6. Plasma Treatment of Ramie Fibers for Composites with polypropylene

Composite and nanocomposite materials request higher adhesion even between incompatible materials. Plasma assisted processes can modify fiber surface with better adhesion and compatibility of materials. Wisconsin and Donghua University of China worked together on this research. Ramie fibers for composites with polypropylene were modified by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma in alcohol-vapors environment using a design of experiments for plasma treatment parameters (flow rate, current and treatment time), in order to increase the surface hydrophobicity, adhesion and compatibility. The preliminary results are promising and work on this area will continue.


Objective 2: To Develop and Evaluate Biobased Fibrous Products for Eco-friendly Crop Protection (TN, WA, NY, WI and MT)

1. biodegradable agricultural mulches

Advancing the development of robust biodegradable agricultural mulches is important to alleviate concerns about the long-term environmental impact of debris formed during weathering of conventional polyethylene-based mulches. The effect of simulated weathering on the physico-chemical properties and biodegradability of fully biobased “biodegradable” mulches prepared using spun-melt and meltblown nonwovens technology from polylactic acid (PLA) and PLA-polyhydroxy alkanolate (PHA) blends has thus been investigated by Tennessee. Simulated weathering greatly affected the physico-chemical properties of the meltblown (MB) mulches, particularly for a PLA-PHA 75/25 w/w blend, which underwent a 95% loss of tensile strength and 32% decrease of molecular weight, accompanied by breakage of microfibers, during a 21 day weatherometry cycle. Tenessee researcher found that weathering increased the biodegradation of the MB-PLA+PHA mulch, with the time course of biodegradation and final extent of biodegradation (91% in 90 days) nearly matching the value obtained for the cellulosic positive control. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy suggested the mulches underwent chain scission via a Norrish II reaction as a result of photodegradation. Spunbond (SB) mulches prepared from 100% PLA did not undergo significant physico-chemical changes, although white-colored mulch underwent a slight decrease of tensile strength compared to black-colored mulch, due to the enhancement of photodegradation by white coloring. The weathered SB mulches achieved > 69% biodegradation in 90 days, thereby meeting the inherent biodegradability requirement of the ASTM D6400 compostability standard. The nonwovens processing employed for preparing the mulches had a significant influence on their degradation. Thus, SB nonwovens may be useful as biobased and compostable materials for multi-season mulching, and other long-term agricultural applications, such as for row covers in perennial cropping systems. A manuscript for publication is in the final stages of preparation, and will be submitted soon.

Tennessee, have investigated the effect of several environmental factors and soil amendments on the biodegradation of PLA and PLA-PHA nonwovens mulches through soil burial studies conducted in a greenhouse for a 30 week period. Similar to its weathering resistance discussed above, SB mulches are recalcitrant to biodegradation under ambient soil conditions. However, the MB mulches, particularly those formed from PLA-PHA blends, are biodegradable (on par with a commercial biodegradable mulch that was tested side-by-side), observed from the loss of tensile strength, molecular weight, glass transition temperature (via differential scanning calorimetry), and microfiber breakage (scanning electron microscopy). Moreover, PHA was found to decrease the extent of crystallinity for PLA. An increase of temperature (3oC above ambient), watering rate, and the addition of a carbon source for soil microorganisms moderately enhanced biodegradation, and the addition of compost more significantly increased the extent of biodegradation. FTIR analysis indicated the depolymerization occurred via hydrolysis. A soil burial study that compared sterilized versus unsterilized soil demonstrated that the loss of tensile strength occurred only in the unsterilized soil, suggesting that biodegradation, not abiotic depolymerization, occurred. A manuscript draft on this work is in its final stages of development, and will be submitted soon. More recent work suggests the decrease of tensile strength for MB mulches occurs more rapidly during an initial 3 week period, then more slowly in a first-order kinetic process thereafter, spanning several weeks.

Therefore, based on the findings obtained thus far, SB nonwovens appear to be suitable materials for long-term agricultural applications, such as landscape fabrics and row covers, due to the recalcitrance toward weathering and their high mechanical strength. Since the materials are biobased and fulfill the biodegradability requirements for the compostability standard ASTM D6400, they are more sustainable than currently used products. The MB-PLA+PHA nonwovens materials are potentially valuable materials for mulching, due to their biodegradability and high tensile strength.

Funding from the EPA P3 program is being used to support a student team that is testing the performance of several different inexpensive amendments (e.g., mushroom compost and switchgrass biochar) that can be applied to the mulches at the end of their service life, to help “open up” their structure, to enhance biodegradation when the mulches are subsequently plowed into the soil. Preliminary results suggest the two above-named amendments are effective. Research is ongoing.

Objective 3: To develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications (NE, WI, TN, WA, CA, MT and NY)

1. PLA as biomaterials for medical applications

Nebraska has worked on developing and evaluating proteins and PLA as biomaterials for medical applications. This year, they have developed water stable collagen nanofibers as tissue engineering scaffolds, and developed a new method for electrospinning 3 dimensionally randomly oriented submicron fibers for medical applications.

Based on the efforts mainly from Tasks 1 and 2, NE organized a symposium for the CELL-Division (Division of Cellulose and Renewable Materials) titled ‘Light-Weight Materials from Biopolymers’ at the 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Indianapolis, IN, September 8-12, 2013. The symposium had 16 presentations in two sessions (morning-8 papers; afternoon-8papers on September 9, 2013.

2. Antimicrobial Cellulose Fiber and Film

A new method of producing antimicrobial cellulose fiber and film materials was developed by Texas researchers using an ionic liquid solvent and silver nanoparticle. Cellulose from biomass (wood, bagasse, cotton) was dissolved in an ionic liquid solvent with controlled temperature and vacuum pressure, after the solvent was pre-dispersed with nanosivler. Regenerated cellulose/nanosilver fiber and film was produced by feeding the cellulose/nanosilver solution into a lab-scale solvent spinning line. The produced cellulose/nanoparticle fiber and film materials were characterized in terms of their molecular structure (degree of crystallinity, crystal size, and crystal orientation), micro morphological structure, nanoparticle distribution, tensile strength, and thermal stability. Their bioactive efficacy was tested in accordance with the standard method of ASTM E 2149-10. The research concluded that the cellulose/nanosilver fiber was bioactive and able to kill E. coli almost completely without leaching problem. The addition of nanosilver resulted in a significant increase of the cellulose fiber tensile strength and modulus, an insignificant reduction of fiber elongation, and a slower thermal decomposition rate.

Objective 4: To develop and evaluate methods to remove dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water (WI, GA, NE, CA and MT)

1. Modelling Dye Degradation in Textile Wastewater
Wisconsin has continued work on an empirical model using only bijective functions and has tried to design a method to describe dye degradation of Reactive Blue 19, Reactive Black 9 and Reactive Red 120. The empirical model is to compare a theoretical predictive exponential decay model based on the principles of Fick’s first law of diffusion. The preliminary model is promising and Wisconsin will continue working on this research.

2. Textile wastewater treatment with Nano-particles
Nebraska has developed biodegradable hollow nano-particles from zein and has demonstrated that these particles have extremely high sorption capacity to dyes and could be used for dye removal from wastewater.

Impact

Our work on utilizing agricultural byproducts and co-products for textile, composite and medical applications provide potential opportunities for value addition to Nebraska’s and the United States agriculture , assist in reducing cost of biofuels and has the potential to develop a new biobased industry that will create jobs and benefit the economy.

Substituting PVA that is widely used for sizing with biodegradable proteins and distillers dried grains will substantially reduce the pollution from the textile industry. Similarly, using nanoparticles to absorb dyes in waste water will help reduce pollution from the textile industry.

Our approach of using inexpensive agricultural bypoducts and coproducts available in the United States for textile applications will provide a distinct advantage for the textile industry in the United States to be sustainable, environmentally friendly and competitive compared to the developing countries where such agricultural materials are not available in large quantities and/or low costs.

Our invention on developing 3D scaffolds from proteins provides unique biomaterials for tissue engineering and other medical applications. These biomaterials are shown to be biocompatible, easy to be manufactured and can be tailored for specific needs and could therefore lead to novel treatments for various diseases and also lower medical costs.

The symposium NE organized for the 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting attracted researchers around the world who discussed the science and industrial applications of biopolymers for textiles, composites and medical applications. Our students, both graduate and undergraduate (two PhD, one MS and one undergraduate), gave oral presentations of their researches at the symposium and gained valuable experiences in presenting and sharing their knowledge to experts in their fields

This research directly relates to the nation’s efforts in utilizing biomass from agricultural crops and residues for producing high-performance renewable and biodegradable materials. Use of green composites would support the Government’s ‘Bio-preferred’ program. Although the liquid crystalline cellulose fibers were not produced in our labs, the technology is being developed in the US. For example, within this program, medium strength cellulose fibers which can be used in textile applications have already been made. With increased molecular orientation and higher crystallinity, properties of these fibers can be increased significantly and made suitable for high strength applications including composites. The advanced green composites may also be used in military applications.mm

PLA-based spunbond nonwovens are potentially valuable materials for long-term agriculture, such as row covers and landscape fabrics, due to their recalcitrance toward weathering, high mechanical strength, and their sustainability: fully biobased and compostable.

MB nonwovens prepared from PLA-PHA blends are potentially valuable biodegradable agricultural mulches, and may be particularly useful for multi-season use or for long growing seasons, and for organic agriculture, due to their high rate and extent of biodegradation (particularly after being weathered), their high mechanical strength, and their formation from 100% biobased polymers.

This research also addresses the nation’s biomass research priority by utilizing agricultural crops and residues for producing high-performance renewable and biodegradable cellulose fiber and film materials. The pure cellulose and cellulose/nanoparticle fiber/film produced with this new method can be used for diverse textile and apparel applications to compete with Rayon and Tencel/Lyocell fibers. Furthermore, the new cellulose fibers can also be used for high-end applications in other industrial sectors including carbon fiber manufacture, personal care, health care, and military applications. Use of natural fiber nonwovens for making fiber composites continues to be one of the biobased polymer material mainstreams in competing with plastics and foams in auto interior applications. The one-step process technology of producing bast fiber auto interior composites will provide two critical industrial values: to increase vehicle fuel efficiency by reducing vehicle weight; and to improve vehicle recyclability.

Accomplishments

Publications

Ma, H., Xu, R., Xu, H., Zhang, L. Zhong, Y. Jiang, Q., Yang, Y., and Mao*, Z. High Modulus Silicates/Poly (L-Lactic Acid) Based Polymers Assemblies for Potential Applications in Tissue Engineering. Functional Materials Letters. 6(4) 1350037(5 pages) (2013).<br /> <br /> Yang, Y. and Reddy*, N., Potential of using plant proteins and chicken feathers for cotton warp sizing. Cellulose. 20(4), 2163-2174(2013). <br /> <br /> Chen, L., Reddy, N., and Yang*, Y. Soyproteins as Environmentally Friendly Sizing Agents to Replace Poly(vinyl alcohol). Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 20(9), 6085-6095 (2013).<br /> <br /> Reddy, N., and Yang*, Y. Thermoplastic Films from Plant Proteins. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 130(2), 729-738(2013).<br /> <br /> Yang, Y. and Reddy*, N., Utilizing Discarded Plastic Bags as Matrix Material for Composites Reinforced with Chicken Feathers. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 130(1) 307-312(2013).<br /> <br /> Reddy, N., Jiang, Q., Jin, E., Shi, Z., Hou, X., and Yang*, Y. Bio-Thermoplastics from Grafted Chicken Feathers for Potential Biomedical Applications. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 110, 51-58(2013).<br /> Zhang, G., Huang K., Jiang, X., Huang*, D, and Yang, Y. Acetylation of rice straw for thermoplastic applications. Carbohydrate Polymers. 96(1),218-226(2013).<br /> <br /> Xu, H., Zhang, Y., Jiang, Q., Reddy, N., and Yang*, Y. Biodegradable Hollow Zein Nanoparticles for Removal of Reactive Dyes from Wastewater. Journal of Environmental Management. 125, 33-40(2013).<br /> <br /> Chen, L., Reddy, N., and Yang*, Y. Remediation of Environmental Pollution by Substituting Poly(vinyl alcohol) with Biodegradable Warp Size from Wheat Gluten. Environmental Science & Technology. 47(9) 4505-4511(2013).<br /> <br /> Reddy, N., Jiang, Q., and Yang*, Y. Properties and Potential Medical Applications of Silk Fibers Produced by Rothischildia lebeau. Journal of Biomaterials Science: Polymer Edition. 24(7) 820-830(2013).<br /> <br /> Huang, F., Y. Xu, S. Liao, D. Yang, Y.-L. Hsieh and Q. Wei, Preparation of amidoxime polyacrylonitrile chelating nanofibers and their application for adsorption of metal ions, Materials 2013, 6(3): 969-980. <br /> <br /> Hsieh, Y.-L. Cellulose Nanocrystals and Self-Assembled Nanostructures from Cotton, Rice Straw and Grape Skin: A Source Perspective, Journal of Materials Science, 48(22): 7837-7846 (2013).<br /> <br /> Sathiskumar Dharmalingam, Biodegradation and Photodegradation of PLA and PLA-blend-PHA Nonwovens Agricultural Mulches in Real Soil Conditions, PhD Dissertation, University of Tennessee,, 12/13<br /> <br /> A.T. Corbin, C. Miles, J. Cowan, D.G. Hayes, J. Moore-Kucera, D.A. Inglis, 2013, biodegradable plastic mulch in certified organic production systems, [Online]. eXtension Foundation, eOrganic Community of Practice. Available at: http://www.extension.org/pages/67951 (verified 02 May 2013).<br /> <br /> Elodie Hablot, Satiskumar Dharmalingam, Douglas G. Hayes, Larry C. Wadsworth, Christopher Blazy, Ramani Narayan, and Debra A. Inglis, 2013, Effect of simulated weathering on physico-chemical properties and inherent biodegradation of PLA/PHA non-woven-based agricultural mulches, manuscript in preparation (will be submitted within next 3-4 wk)<br /> <br /> Larry C. Wadsworth, Douglas G. Hayes, Annette L. Wszelaki, Tommy L. Washington, Jeffery Martin, Jaehoon Lee, Robert Raley, C. Tyler Pannell, Sathishkumar Dharmalingam, Carol Miles, Debra A. Inglis, and Arnold M. Saxton, 2012, Evaluation of Biodegradable Spun-Melt 100% Polylactic Acid Nonwovens Mulch Materials in a Greenhouse Environment, Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics in press. 8 (4) 50-59. (Note: this manuscript was submitted in 2011, a long time ago, but was finally published this year.)<br /> <br /> Corbin, A., Cowan, J. Miles, C, Hayes, D.G., Dorgan, J., Inglis D.A. 2013. Using Biodegradable Plastics as Agricultural Mulches, Washington State University Extension Factsheet FS103E, published 01/13<br /> <br /> Edwards, V., B Condon, P Sawhney, M Reynolds, C Allen, S Nam, A Bopp, J Chen and N Prevost, Electrokinetic analysis of hydroentangled greige cotton-synthetic fiber blends for absorbent technologies, Textile Research Journal, 2013, 83(18), 1950–1960.<br /> <br /> Hao, A., Zhao, H., and Chen, J.Y. Kenaf/Polypropylene Nonwoven Composites: the Influence of Manufacturing Conditions on Mechanical, Thermal, and Acoustical Performance. Composites Part B: Engineering, 2013, 54(11), 44–51.<br /> <br /> Hao, A., Zhao, H., Jiang, Wei, and Chen, J.Y. Mechanical Properties of Kenaf/Polypropylene Nonwoven Composites. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 2012, 20(4), 959?966.<br /> <br /> Patent:<br /> <br /> Li, Y. B., W. Stephens, M. Tusim, X. Luo “Production of polyols and polyurethanes”. Filed on June 21, 2012. Application No. 13/530,056<br /> <br /> Presentations at Peer reviewed International Conference<br /> <br /> Xu, H., Reddy, N., and Yang, Y. Potential of PEGylated zein nanoparticles for biomedical applications: In vitro and in vivo studies. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-16.<br /> <br /> Hou, X., Yan, D., Sun, F., Cheng, Y., and Yang, Y. Effect of pre-treatment for cotton stalk bark on mechanical properties of lightweight polypropylene composites. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-19.<br /> <br /> Shen, L., Xu, H. and Yang, Y., Quantitative analysis of reaction between gliadin and citric acid under weak acidic and weak alkaline conditions. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-20.<br /> <br /> Jiang, J., Reddy, N., and Yang, Y., Biocomposites developed using poultry feathers as matrix and reinforcement. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-21.<br /> <br /> Xu, H., and Yang, Y., Novel regenerated protein fibers from chicken feather keratin. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-23.<br /> <br /> Jiang, J., Xu, H., and Yang, Y., Water-stable 3D soyprotein scaffolds for soft tissue regeneration. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-24.<br /> <br /> Huang, Y., Xu, H., and Yang, Y., Potential of 3D porous scaffolds from feather keratin for cartilage repair. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-27.<br /> <br /> Temme, L., Reddy, N., Shi, Z., and Yang, Y., Properties and potential applications of components extracted from sorghum distillers dried grains. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-28.<br /> <br /> Pan, G., Hou, X., and Yang, Y., Preparation and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid)/wheat straw fibers composites. 246th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8-12, 2013 (2013), CELL-29<br />

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

Anil N. Netravali, Cornell University; C. Freeman, Mississippi State; Douglas G. Hayes, University of Tennessee-Knoxville; Eric Belasco, Montana State University; Jonathan Y. Chen, University of Texas; Karen Leonas, North Carolina State University; Majid Sarmadi, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Patricia A. Annis, University of Georgia; Steve Workman, University of Kentucky; Suraj Sharma, University of Georgia; Yiqi Yang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; You-Lo Hsieh, University of California-Davis.

Brief Summary of Minutes

This multi-state research project is addressing the nation’s research priority of bioenergy and biobased products by developing renewable fibrous materials and innovative technologies for eco-friendly and sustainable textile products that have an impact on improving environment and quality of living. Four research objectives are defined: (1) to develop novel biobased polymeric materials; (2) to develop and evaluate biobased fibrous products for eco-friendly crop protection; (3) to develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications; and (4) to develop and evaluate methods to remove dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water. The research progress is made through cooperation among the participants from nine universities in the states of CA, GA, MT, NE, NY, TN, TX, WA, and WI.

Accomplishments

Objective 1<br /> <br /> University of Nebraska-Lincoln (NE) continued to work on improving properties of polylactide from the molecular level via the study of PLLA-PDLA interlocked structure and their nanocomposites for the better applications of PLA in textiles and plastics industry. One focus was on studying the steam flash-explosion to extract biofibers from cotton stalks with high aspect ratios for textiles and composites uses. Another focus was on chemical grafting of proteins, and polysaccharides to turn these biopolymers into thermoplastics for industrial applications. A technical advancement in dissolving highly-crosslinked proteins such as keratin, camelina and sorghum proteins was achieved. This technology enabled producing water-stable fibers and films with good mechanical properties via controlled de-crosslinking and disentanglement. <br /> <br /> Cornell University (NY) has been working on biodegradable resins and composites using proteins and starches from agricultural products. A novel water based reaction scheme was developed to crosslink the protein from soy flour (SF) without using any external crosslinker. This technology included a series of steps to separate, oxidize, and crosslink sugars from SF. The resulted soy protein resin had enhanced mechanical and thermal properties and reduced moisture absorption. When reinforced with strong microfibrillated cellulose the crosslinked SF could produce fully sustainable and biodegradable green composites. The developed technology might be extended to produce biobased plastics with enhanced properties by crosslinking natural flours with the similar composition to that of SF. Green composites were also developed by blending waxy maize starch (WMS) with micro- and nano-fibrillated cellulose (MFC/NFC). An environmentally-friendly crosslinker, 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA), was used to crosslink WMS to fabricate crosslinked starch-based composites. This allowed using a benign and convenient method to produce crosslinked thermoset starch-based composite films, comparable to commercially available plastic sheets. The process could be easily scaled up for commercial production. In this work industrially pregelatinized WMS was used to obtain smooth, transparent and defect-free films. Crosslinking improved mechanical properties of the films and helped reduce film moisture absorption and increase film water insolubility. <br /> <br /> The University of Georgia (GA) has focused on the development of biothermoplastics and thermosets from the algal proteins. A study on development of Spirulina microalgae based bioplastics and thermoplastic blends was conducted. A method of thermomechanical process was used to develop bioplastics and Spirulina (blue-green microalgae) and its blends. Spirulina biomass was processed into bio-plastics by means of plasticization, blending and compatibilization. The extracted protein content and its molecular weight were determined using BCA assay and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), respectively. Thermal, mechanical, and morphological properties of the above biobased plastics were tested to assess their performance and possible end-use applications. The optical observation of Spirulina powder and its extracted pellets along with protein precipitation using trichloroacetic acid (TCA) confirmed the cell rupture/break. <br /> <br /> A study on producing biodegradable polyesters from Algal sources was also accomplished. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of linear biodegradable thermoplastic polyesters that are synthesized in nature by bacterial fermentation. The formation is triggered by deficiency of nutrients and the excessive supply of carbon sources. In spite of high yield of PHAs via bacterial fermentation, it is not an economically viable route due to high costs incurred by expensive carbon sources and rich oxygen supply during bacterial fermentation. In order to reduce the cost of PHA, photoautotrophic production is thought to be a desired route. Cyanobacteria are one of the only prokaryotic species that naturally produces PHAs (under stress conditions) by photosynthesis and requires fewer resources for growth and biomass production. The mixotrophic biosynthesis of PHB (poly 3–hydroxy butyrate) in cyanobacteria (blue green algae) (Nostoc sp.) was investigated, and the biosynthesized polymer was extracted using a methanol-chloroform solvent technique. Tested results suggested that the Nostoc sp. culture was a viable candidate for the PHB production. This research demonstrated that PHA could be produced photoautotrophically and mixotrophically in cyanobacterial species, as PHB was accumulated in Nostoc sp.<br /> <br /> The University of Texas at Austin (TX) UT has continued the research on the echo-friendly fabrication of regenerated cellulose fiber from cellulosic biomass. Different solvent systems were compared in terms of cellulose solubility, spinning conditions, and regenerated cellulose fiber properties. Polymeric structure of the regenerated cellulose fiber was characterized using advanced instrumental methods. The developed research data helped determine a better spinning solvent. The research effort was also made for producing regenerated cellulose fiber and film covalently bound with a protein. The study exhibited that a synthesis of enzyme conjugation on cellulose could be undertaken in a controlled manor, enabling an immobilization of a desired amount of protein. The research was also done on the analysis of creep behavior and crack propagation of kenaf/ polypropylene nonwoven composite. Nonwoven composites made of natural and polypropylene fiber have been increasingly used in many industrial sectors. To meet different requirements of end uses, the time-dependent and temperature-dependent mechanical properties of the composite need to be improved. This study modeled the fiber composite behavior of creeping and cracking using a numerical approach and finite element method. <br /> At the University of California, Davis (CA), scientists have derived highly crystalline nanocellulose from under-utilized agricultural by-products. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) derived from rice straw have been self-assembled into hydrogels and aerogels. The ultra-light (as low as 1.7 mg/cm3) and ultra-porous (99.5 to 99.9%) aerogels exhibited excellent wet-resiliency, super-absorbency and amphiphilicity, absorbing 210 and 375 times by mass of water and chloroform, respectively, far superior to any previously reported cellulose aerogels. These aerogels could be tuned to be more hydrophobic and oleophilic, capable of absorbing up to 356 times of non-polar hydrocarbons, polar aprotic solvents and oils, surpassing all previously reported polymeric, cellulosic and carbonaceous aerogels by up to 20 times. Rice straw CNFs have also been used as dual capping and shape regulating agent for silver nanoprism synthesis. CNF-bound Ag nanoprisms with 80-320 nm truncated edges were light blue in color and exhibit sharp out-of-plane quadruple resonance peak at 334 nm and prominent in-plane dipole resonance peaks at 762-900 nm. <br /> <br /> Objective 2<br /> <br /> University of Tennessee (TN) has advanced the development of robust biodegradable agricultural mulches (BDMs) to alleviate concerns about the long-term environmental impact of debris formed during weathering of conventional polyethylene-based mulches. The research team investigated the performance of several different inexpensive amendments (e.g., mushroom compost and switchgrass biochar) that could be applied to the mulches at the end of their service life, to help “open up” their structure, to enhance biodegradation when the mulches are subsequently plowed into the soil. The tests were performed on BDMs prepared from polylactic acid (PLA) and PLA-polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) blends via meltblown nonwoven processing, composed of micron-sized fibers. Several analyses of differential scanning calorimetry, molecular weight analysis via gel permeation chromatography, and tensile strength demonstrated that fertilizer and mushroom compost were the most effective amendments. The research team also assembled a biodegradability apparatus that can be used to measure biodegradability under ambient soil and composting conditions, via ASTM D5988 and D5338, respectively. The apparatus would be used to measure the biodegradability and compostability of several commercially available and experimental BDMs, both before and after weathering. Through a major USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant received by (Project Director) Hayes, Wadsworth, Belasco, and collaborators at the University of Tennessee, Washington State University, and Montana State University, the long-term implications of deploying on soil quality, the soil microbial community, specialty crop production, pests and diseases, and consumers would be investigated via a transdisciplinary approach.<br /> <br /> Objective 3<br /> <br /> Reported from CA, cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) derived from rice straw have been used as nanotemplates to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) via electrostatic binding of Ag+ on negatively charged, 2 nm wide CNF surfaces, followed by the reduction to atomic silver and AgNPs. At 150 mM equivalent Ag+ concentration, CNF-AgNPs induced the production of EPS-like material, causing clustering of bacteria in solution indicating potential use in concentrating and collection of microbs. At a higher 450 mM equivalent Ag+ concentration, CNF-AgNPs prohibited significant bacterial growth. <br /> <br /> NE developed a novel dry-electrospinning technology for making 3D randomly oriented ultrafine fibers materials, which could be used effectively for cartilage repair and have potential of being a major electrospinning method.

Publications

Xu, H., Shi, Z., Reddy, N., and Yang*, Y. Intrinsically Water-Stable Keratin Nanoparticles and Their In Vivo Biodistribution for Targeted Delivery. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 62(37) 9145-9150 (2014). <br /> <br /> Shi, Z., Reddy, N., Hou, X., and Yang*, Y. Development and Characterization of Thermoplastics from Corn Distillers Grains Grafted with Various Methacrylates. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 53(36) 13963-13970 (2014).<br /> <br /> Hou, X., Sun, F., Zhang, L., Luo, J., Lu, D., and Yang*, Y. Chemical-free extraction of cotton stalk bark fibers by steam flash explosion. BioResources. 9(4) 6950-6967 (2014).<br /> <br /> Hou, X., Sun, F., Yan, D., Xu, H., Dong, Z., Li, Q., and Yang*, Y. Preparation of Lightweight Polypropylene Composites Reinforced by Cotton Stalk Fibers from Combined Steam Flash-Explosion and Alkaline Treatment. Journal of Cleaner Production. 83. 454-462 (2014).<br /> <br /> Dong, Z., Hou, X., Sun, F., Zhang, L., and Yang*, Y. Textile grade long natural cellulose fibers from bark of cotton stalks using steam explosion as a pretreatment. Cellulose. 21(5) 3851-3860 (2014).<br /> <br /> Xu, H., Ma, Z. and Yang*, Y. Dissolution and Regeneration of Wool via Controlled Dis-integration and Dis-entanglement of Highly-Crosslinked Keratin. Journal of Materials Science. 49(21) 7513-7521 (2014).<br /> <br /> Reddy, N., Jiang, J., Yang*, Y., Biodegradable Composites Containing Chicken Feathers as Matrix and Jute Fibers as Reinforcement. Journal of Polymers and the Environment. 22(3) 310-317 (2014).<br /> <br /> Shi, Z., Reddy, N., Shen, L. Hou, X., and Yang*, Y. Grafting Soyprotein Isolates with Various Methacrylates for Thermoplastic Applications. Industrial Crops and Products. 60, 168-176 (2014). <br /> <br /> Xu, H., Cai, S. and Yang*, Y. Water-stable three dimensional ultrafine fibrous scaffolds from keratin for cartilage tissue engineering. Langmuir. 30(28), 8461-8470 (2014).<br /> <br /> Xu, H., Cai, S., Sellers, A. and Yang*, Y. Electrospun ultrafine fibrous wheat glutenin scaffolds with three-dimensionally random organization and water stability for soft tissue engineering. Journal of Biotechnology.184. 179-186 (2014).<br /> <br /> Shi, Z., Reddy, N., Hou, X., and Yang*, Y. Tensile Properties of Thermoplastic Feather Films Grafted with Different Methacrylates. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2(7), 1849-1856 (2014).<br /> <br /> Shi, Z., Reddy, N., Shen, L., Hou, X., and Yang*, Y. Effects of Monomers and Homopolymer Contents on the Dry and Wet Tensile Properties of Starch Films Grafted with Various Methacrylates. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 62(20), 4668-4676 (2014).<br /> <br /> Xu, H., and Yang*, Y. Controlled de-crosslinking and disentanglement of feather keratin for fiber preparation via a green process. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. 2(6) 1404-1410 (2014).<br /> <br /> Xu, H., Cai, S., Sellers, A., and Yang*, Y. Intrinsically water-stable electrospun three-dimensional ultrafine fibrous soy protein scaffolds for soft tissue engineering using adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells. RSC Advances. 4 (30), 15451–15457 (2014).<br /> <br /> Kang, Y., Chen, Z., Wang, B., and Yang*, Y. Synthesis and mechanical properties of thermoplastic films from lignin, sebacic acid and poly(ethylene glycol). Industrial Crops and Products. 56, 105-112 (2014).<br /> <br /> Hou, X., Xu, H., Shi, Z., Ge, M., Chen, L., Cao, X., and Yang*, Y. Hydrothermal pretreatment for the preparation of wool powders. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 131(8), 40173 (10pgs) (2014).<br /> <br /> Zhao, Y., Jiang, Q., Xu, H., Reddy, N., Xu, L., and Yang*, Y., Cytocompatible and water-stable camelina protein films for tissue engineering. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part B - Applied Biomaterials. 102B(4), 729-736 (2014).<br /> <br /> Reddy, N., Chen, L., Zhang, Y., Yang*, Y., Reducing Environmental Pollution of the Textile Industry Using Keratin as Alternative Sizing Agent to Poly(vinyl alcohol). Journal of Cleaner Production. 65. 561-567(2014).<br /> <br /> Jiang, Q., Xu, H., Cai, S. and Yang*, Y. Ultrafine fibrous gelatin scaffolds with deep cell infiltration mimicking 3D ECMs for soft tissue repair. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine. 25(7), 1789-1800 (2014).<br /> <br /> Reddy, N., Shi, Z., Temme, L., Xu, H., Xu, L., Hou, X., and Yang*, Y. Development and Characterization of Thermoplastic Films from Sorghum Distillers Dried Grains Grafted with Various Methacrylates. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 62(11), 2406-2411(2014).<br /> <br /> Shi, X., Chen, Z., and Yang*, Y. Toughening of Poly(L-lactide) with Methyl MQ Silicone Resin. European Polymer Journal. 50 243–248 (2014).<br /> <br /> Qiu, K. and Netravali A. N., A Review of Bacterial Cellulose and Bacterial cellulose based Nanocomposites. Polymer Reviews, 54 (4), pp. 598-626, 2014. DOI:10.1080/15583724.2014.896018<br /> <br /> Vieira, R. K., Vieira, A. K., Kim, J. T. and Netravali, A. N., Characterization of Amazonic White Pitch (Protium heptaphyllum) for Potential use as a ‘Green’ Adhesive. Journal of Adhesion Science & Technology, 28 (10), pp. 963-974, 2014. DOI: 10.1080/01694243.2014.880220<br /> <br /> Ghosh-Dastidar, T. and Netravali, A. N., Crosslinked Waxy Maize Starch based ‘Green’ Nanocomposites, Carbohydrate Polymers, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 1 (12), pp. 1537-1544, 2013. DOI: 10.1021/sc400113a<br /> <br /> Ghosh-Dastidar, T. and Netravali, A. N., Novel Thermosetting Resin from Soy Flour Crosslinked using Green Technology, Green Chemistry, 15 (11), pp. 3243-3251, 2013. DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40887F<br /> <br /> Banerjee, A., and Sharma, S. (2014). Study of biodegradable polyesters from algal sources for use in future textile fiber applications. American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) International Conference.<br /> <br /> Banerjee, A. (2013, November). Project Title: Study of biodegradable polyesters from algal sources for use in textile fiber applications. This graduate research project was funded by the AATCC Foundation under Graduate Research Proposals Competition.<br /> <br /> Wang, K. (2014) Masters Thesis: “Bioplastic Potential of Spirulina Microalgae."<br /> <br /> Sharma, S., Zeller, M. A., Hunt, R.W., and Jones, A. Bioplastics and their thermoplastic blends from Spirulina and Chlorella microalgae. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2013, 130(5), 3263-3275.<br /> <br /> Chen, J.Y., Sun, L., Jiang, W., and Lynch, V. Using ionic liquid to fabricate regenerated cellulose/nanosilver fiber with antimicrobial and no-leaching performance. Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers, 2014, DOI: 10.1177/0883911514556960.<br /> <br /> Hao, A., Chen, Y., and Chen J.Y. Creep and Recovery Behavior of Kenaf/Polypropylene Nonwoven Composites. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2014, DOI: 10.1002/app.40726.<br /> <br /> Chen, J.Y. and Jiang, N. Fabrication and Characterization of Carbonized and Activated Cotton Nonwovens. Journal of Industrial Textiles, 2014, 43(3), 338-349.<br /> <br /> Chen, J.Y. Chapter 4 Man-made fibres: regenerated cellulose fibres. in Textiles and fashion: materials, design and technology, Rose Sinclair Ed. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, England. 2014, pp 79-96.<br /> <br /> Elodie Hablot, Satiskumar Dharmalingam, Douglas G. Hayes, Larry C. Wadsworth, Christopher Blazy, Ramani Narayan, and Debra A. Inglis. Effect of simulated weathering on physico-chemical properties and inherent biodegradation of PLA/PHA nonwoven-based mulches. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 2014, 22(4), 417-429.<br /> <br /> Sathiskumar Dharmalingam, Douglas G. Hayes, Larry C. Wadsworth, Rachel N. Dunlap, Jennifer M. DeBruyn, Jaehoon Lee, Annette L. Wszelaki, Soil degradation of polylactic acid / polyhydroxyalkanoate-based nonwoven mulches. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 2014, in review.<br /> <br /> Jiang, F., Y.-L. Hsieh, Amphiphilic superabsorbent cellulose nanofibril aerogels, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2014, 2, 6337-6342.<br /> <br /> Jiang, F. and Y.-L. Hsieh, Synthesis of cellulose nanofibril bound silver nanoprism for surface enhanced Raman scattering, Biomacromolecules, 20141, 5(10), 3608-3616.<br /> <br /> Shen, W., Y.-L. Hsieh, Biocompatible sodium alginate fibers by aqueous processing and physical crosslinking, Carbohydrate Polymers, 2014, 102, 893-900.<br /> <br /> Wang, M.S., F. Jiang, Y.-L. Hsieh, N. Nitin, Cellulose nanofibrils improve dispersibility and stability of silver nanoparticles and induce production of bacterial extracellular polysaccharides, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2014, 2(37), 6226-6235.

Impact Statements

1. The research findings in biopolymers, bio-fibers, and bio-composites obtained in NE have attracted industries for technology transfers, and have generated funds for supporting graduate education. This research also provides opportunities for the state of Nebraska to enhance rural economy, add jobs, and strengthen industrial sustainability.
2. The research on biodegradable resins and composites directly relates to the nation?s efforts in utilizing biomass from agricultural crops and residues as well as food processing wastes for producing high-performance renewable and biodegradable materials. Using green polymers and composites in place of petroleum based polymers and composites would support the Government?s ?Bio-preferred? program. This research demonstrates that both protein and starch based thermoset resins could be used for making composites with improved properties.
3. Developing an algae based bio-plastic is a good solution to solving some of the problems caused by the wide use of conventional plastics. The exponential intracellular accumulation of PHB in the Nostoc cells in a short period of time indicates the market potential and economic feasibility of the large-scale PHB production using cyanobacterial strains. With further research and modification, these polymers can be successfully employed as biocompatibilizer and/or in the medical textiles domain, ushering in an era of environment-friendly and sustainable materials.
4. The use of PLA-PHA based nonwovens as mulch materials appears to be suitable for long-term and multi-season agricultural applications, such as landscape fabrics and row covers, due to the recalcitrance toward weathering and their high mechanical strength. Since the materials are biobased, they are more sustainable than currently used products, meeting the biodegradability requirement defined in ASTM D6400.
5. The research progress in the regenerated cellulose fiber and natural fiber nonwoven composites benefits the nation?s agricultural and manufacturing industries for developing innovative biobased products from cellulosic biomass. Currently, most of the US cellulose biomass is used for bioenergy conversion. To improve economic performance of the bioenergy production, new technologies for producing biobased materials from bioenergy byproducts are critical. As a good example, natural fiber nonwovens for making fiber composites are increasingly used in competing with petro-based plastics and foams in auto interior applications. The one-step process technology of producing bast fiber auto interior composites will provide two critical industrial values: to increase vehicle fuel efficiency by reducing vehicle weight; and to improve vehicle recyclability.
6. The fabrication of nanocellulose aerogels and CNF-AgNP compounding nanomaterials has great potential for advanced diverse end uses. The nanocellulose aerogels are excellent amphiphilic super-absorbents for selective removal and recovery of oils, hydrocarbons and hydrophobic toxicants. The CNF surface bound AgNPs can be used for making specialty thin films that have excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering and analytical enhancement factor to be potential candidates as molecular sensors. The highly charged and high aspect ratio CNFs are excellent dispersing, coagulating and antimicrobial agents under real complex media conditions for potential applications in food, pharmaceuticals, biomedical and textiles.

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Report Information

Participants

You-Lo Hsieh, University of California - Davis; Anil Netravali, Cornell University; Yiqi Yang, University of Nebraska; Majid Sarmadi, University of Wisconsin; Suraj Sharma, University of Georgia; Jonathan Chen, University of Texas - Austin; Karen Leonas, Washington State University; Sergiy Minko, University of Georgia; Chunhui Xiang, Iowa State University; and Yan Vivian Li, Colorado State University.

Advisor Robert Shulstad participated via teleconference.

Brief Summary of Minutes

S-1054 Multistate Cooperative Research Project Annual Meeting Minutes

Friday, October 30, 2015

Room 2115, College of Textiles, Centennial Campus

North Caroline State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Members Attending:

You-Lo Hsieh, Anil Netravali, Yiqi Yang, Majid Sarmadi, Suraj Sharma, Jonathan Chen, Karen Leonas, Sergiy Minko, Chunhui Xiang, and Yan Vivian Li.

1. The meeting began with a telephone call to the project's Administrative Advisor Dr. Robert Shulstad.

Dr. Shulstad commented that President's order to extend debt ceiling for 2 years would increase funds to Ag appropriation committee including funding for competitive research grants, in particular for multi-discipilinary and multi-institutional CAP projects in FY 2016 and FY2017, where priority in call for proposal may alter.

Dr. Shulstad asked if anyone received USDA grants this year and recommended the team to visit panel directors between now and Feb regarding relevant funding areas in FY 2017 budget. Dr. Shulstad also encouraged members to communicate to the private sector to contact their elective congressional members to generate support in the related areas. We were reminded that an annual report is due in 60 days from today's meeting. 

2. The meeting was called to order at 12:40 pm. Chair You-Lo Hsieh welcomed everyone and thanked Karen Leonas for taking care of room and lunch arrangement. All attending members self-introduced over box lunch and discussed the timing of annual report. The Chair and Secretary for 2016 was discussed and Suraj Sharma (UGA) and Yan Vivian Li (Colorado State) were voted in for the respectively positions. Individual reports will be submitted to Suraj Sharma by Thanksgiving to allow time for revision and edit by the group for submission by end of December.

3. Research station report: Station reports from committee members started at 1 pm and ended at 3:30 pm with brief Q&A and discussions at the end of each. Please see the consolidated annual report. 

4. Further discussions also included collaboration, capability and institution facility and funding for research. Interest to visit USDA NIFA panel directors were unanimous. Location for 2016 meeting was discussed. UGA and Cornell were viewed favorably for meeting team's Administrative Advisor Dr. Robert Shulstad and teaming again with Fall Fiber Society meeting, respectively.

 Respectfully submitted,

Suraj Sharma

(Secretary)

Accomplishments

<p><strong>About the S-1054 Project</strong></p><br /> <p>This multi-state research project addresses the nation&rsquo;s research priority in bioenergy and biobased products by developing renewable fibrous materials and innovative technologies for eco-friendly and sustainable textile products that have an impact on improving the environment and quality of living. Four research objectives are defined: (1) to develop novel biobased polymeric materials; (2) to develop and evaluate biobased fibrous products for eco-friendly crop protection; (3) to develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications; and (4) to develop and evaluate methods to remove dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water. The research progress is made through cooperation among the participants from nine universities in the states of CA, GA, MT, NE, NY, TN, TX, WA, and WI.</p><br /> <p><strong>Progress</strong></p><br /> <p><strong>Objective 1</strong></p><br /> <p>The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (NE) continued its development of biofibers from agricultural by-products, co-products and wastes for use in textiles, composites and medical applications. One focus was on the development of natural cellulosic fibers from corn husks with high aspect ratio for high quality applications in textiles and composite reinforcement. Another focus was on the continued development of nanofibers and nanoparticles from proteins for medical applications. Improving properties of polylactide from the molecular level was continued through the study of PLLA-PDLA interlocked structure for better textile applications for PLA.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>One major breakthrough included the development of a non-toxic crosslinking system, using polycarboxylic acids and oxidized sucrose for starch, proteins and other biomacromolecules. This non-toxic crosslinking system provides possibilities for food, food packaging, and biobased materials. It also provides opportunities to develop non-toxic systems for hair setting and perming.</p><br /> <p>Cornell University (NY) has developed a microcapsule based self-healing soy protein isolate (SPI) resin. SPI consists of over 90% polypeptide chains with reactive amino acid residues. It is an abundant and inexpensive renewable natural resource used in many applications in recent years including preparation of biodegradable materials, such as adhesives, plastics, binders, and resins. Pure SPI, in resin form, is very brittle and can crack easily under tension. This reduces its useful life significantly.&nbsp; Poly(D,L-lactide-<em>co</em>-glycolide)(PLGA) microcapsules (average diameter 778 nm) containing SPI, as the healant, were prepared and characterized. The microcapsule preparation technique used in this study resulted in encapsulation efficiency of up to 89% and protein loading of up to 44%. Adding SPI-PLGA microcapsules to the green thermoset SPI resin containing glutaraldehyde was found to be successful in healing the microcracks created after tension loading. The SPI resin containing 15 wt% microcapsules and 12 wt% glutaraldehyde showed self-healing efficiency of approximately 50%. The results showed that the SPI released from SPI-PLGA microcapsules can easily react with the excess glutaraldehyde present in the resin as soon as they come in contact and bridge the two fracture surfaces. These results show that it is possible to extend the life of green, soy protein based thermoset resin by incorporating self-healing SPI-PLGA microcapsules.</p><br /> <p>In another study at Cornell University, mango seed starch (MSS) was extracted from defatted mango seed kernels and crosslinked using a &lsquo;green&rsquo; crosslinker/catalyst system, 1,2,3,4-butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA)/sodium propionate (NaP), to obtain the thermoset resin. Sodium hypophosphite (SHP) is a widely used catalyst for esterification using polycarboxylic acids and hydroxyl groups of starch or cellulose.&nbsp; Effluents polluted with SHP, also containing phosphorous, are toxic to humans and can adversely affect the fauna in water. Results indicate that sodium propionate (NaP), used as a non-phosphorous green catalyst, is as effective and efficient as SHP. The crosslinking of starch was confirmed directly using ATR-FTIR spectra and the degree of substitution (DS) values obtained by chemical titrations as well as indirectly from the tensile properties. Higher modulus and strength, resulting from higher DS values and lower degree of swelling in water, confirmed that NaP acts as a better catalyst than the conventional SHP. Higher crosslinking also results in lower moisture absorption by the starch films increasing its potential application as biobased resin. The properties of the crosslinked MSS, strength of about 13 MPa and modulus of about 1.2 GPa, were found to be comparable to some petroleum based resins as well as edible starch based resins, e.g., potato, corn, or proteins such as soy.</p><br /> <p>The University of Georgia (GA) has continued work on developing a biodegradable bioplastic alternative to petroleum based plastics&mdash;microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). &nbsp;PHAs are already being produced commercially via bacterial fermentation processes. &nbsp;Because PHAs have to compete economically with petroleum-based polymers, the development of low-cost production strategies on the basis of diverse renewable materials is a crucial challenge. &nbsp;Photoautotrophic cyanobacteria could provide a competitive alternative to bacteria for PHA synthesis. The cyanobacterial biosynthesis process may have an edge over the bacterial fermentation process, because cyanobacteria naturally produces PHAs, under stress conditions, by photosynthesis and requires fewer resources for growth and biomass production. As a result, the University of Georgia performed a pilot study to investigate the extraction and characterization of the biosynthesized polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) from three oxygenic diazotrophic cyanobacterial species&mdash;Nostoc muscorum, Anabaena variabilis and Anabaena flos aquae. The average intracellular accumulation was 10% (dry cellular weight). A. flos aquae produced ~26% (dry cellular weight). The extracted PHB has comparable mechanical and chemical properties. Based on the cellular adherence and proliferation characteristics of the microalgal PHB, it can be used as a viable substrate in biomedical applications such as sutures and woven/knitted bandages for wound healing and scaffolds for tissue engineering.</p><br /> <p>The University of Texas at Austin (TX) studied a new approach for spinning micron-scale regenerated cellulose fiber.&nbsp; Two types of ionic liquid, 1&ndash;butyl&ndash;3&ndash;methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) and ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIMAc), were used as new solvent systems for preparing the cellulose solutions. Comparison was carried out with respect to ionic liquid dissolubility, cellulose solution spinnability, and properties of regenerated cellulose micron-fiber produced with each ionic liquid solvent. The experimental fibers were characterized in terms of fiber diameter, strength, thermal property, crystallinity, and content of solvent residual by using tensile testing, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and mass spectrometry. The study concluded that there was a significant difference in the fiber tensile strength between the BMIMCl-generated fiber and the EMIMAc-regenerated fiber.&nbsp; For the fiber crystal size, crystal orientation, and crystallinaty index, the BMIMCl-generated fiber had higher values than the EMIMAc-regenerated fiber. For the thermal property, the EMIMAc fiber was more stable at higher temperatures than the BMIMCl fiber. It was also revealed that the EMIMAc fiber had significantly less solvent residual content than the BMIMCl fiber.</p><br /> <p>Research progress was also made on the use of the ionic liquid for producing regenerated cellulose nanofiber nonwovens which could be used as a biocompatible and biodegradable biomaterial for tissue scaffolds. The cellulose was dissolved in the ionic liquid solvent BMIMCl. Then the nanofiber webs were spun and tested for tensile properties. A bioassay using HL-1 cells was conducted to determine cytotoxicity of the nanofiber webs produced from three different types of cellulose source. The study has shown that the cellulose nanofiber nonwovens featured a biocompatibility and non-toxicity desired for scaffold fabrication. The method of electrospinning was capable of making regenerated cellulose nanofiber nonwovens with dense structure and substantial tensile strength ensuring the biomaterial processability and durability. The fineness of nanofiber was identified in the range of 500-5000 nm.</p><br /> <p>At the University of California, Davis, (CA) scientists have derived highly crystalline nanocellulose from under-utilized agricultural by-products, including rice straw, cotton linters, grape skins and tomato peels. Pure cellulose isolated from tomato peels by either acidified sodium chlorite or chlorine-free alkaline peroxide routes was hydrolyzed (64% H2SO4, 8.75 mL/g, 45 &deg;C, 30 min) into negatively charged (&zeta;=-52.4 mV, 0.48 at% S content) and flat spindle shaped (41:2:1 length:width:thickness) cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). While CNCs could be facilely assembled into ultra-fine (f=260 nm) and highly crystalline (80.8%) fibers from dilute aqueous suspensions, narrower (f=42 nm) and mesoporous (0.4 m3/g) nanofibers could be assembled from CNCs in 1:1 v/v tert-butanol/water mixture. Minimizing inter-nanocellulose hydrogen bonding has been proven to be effective in controlling self-assembling of nanocellulose.</p><br /> <p>The less pristine rice straw holocllulose could be defibrillated into either holocellulose nanocrytals (holoCNCs) via acid hydrolysis or holocellulose nanofibrils (holoCNFs) by TEMPO-oxidization. While both holoCNCs and holoCNFs were amphiphilic similar to their pure nanocellulose counterparts, their greater hydrophobicities prevent self-assembling to produce finer nanofibers as well as distinct surface active behaviors. HoloCNCs lowered equilibrium surface tension to 49.2 mN/m at above 0.57 % critical aggregation concentration, stabilized 30 % more oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion to double the droplet sizes and self-assemble into highly mesoporous structures with up to 3 times higher specific surface (111 m2/g) and total pore volume (0.40 cm3/g), than that from CNCs upon freeze-drying. The unique surface active, amphiphilic and less self-assembling properties of holoCNCs offer additional desirable characteristics without needing surface modification of CNCs. This streamlined isolation process has proven to be a win-win green approach to generate new arrays of nanocellulose.</p><br /> <p><strong>Objective 2</strong></p><br /> <p>University of Tennessee (TN) has advanced the development of robust biodegradable agricultural mulches (BDMs) to alleviate concerns about the long-term environmental impact of debris formed during weathering of conventional polyethylene-based mulches. Developing a better understanding of the underlying processes and mechanisms for soil degradation of the BDMs is equally as important as developing BDMs. ASTM is developing a new standard for soil degradation, ASTM WK29802, which requires 90% degradation of plastics in 2 years when buried in soil under ambient conditions, as measured by a standardized laboratory test, ASTM D5988. Through a major USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant received by (Project Director) Hayes, Wadsworth, Belasco, and collaborators at the University of Tennessee (UT), Washington State University (WA), and Montana State University (MT), the long-term impact of using BDMs was investigated by examining soil quality, the soil microbial community, specialty crop production, pests and diseases. &nbsp;Consumers are also being educated on BDMs (http://biodebradablemulch.org). One investigation looked at the effect of field weathering and simulated weathering of commercially available and experimentally derived biodegradable plastic mulch films. The physicochemical analysis of the mulches is currently being completed. &nbsp;Data was further analyzed (and additionally collected) for a soil burial study of nonwoven fully biobased mulches that provided the change of physicochemical parameters during the time course of biodegradation, a 40 week period.</p><br /> <p><strong>Objective 3</strong></p><br /> <p>Wisconsin (WI) worked on Energy-efficient Recycling of plastic waste. At the beginning of the project WI started with blending of virgin plastic materials as a basis for a comprehensive study to be able to evaluate the results with recycled material from oil-based vs bio-based plastics. In parallel, WI developed a plastic collection and sorting strategy as well as a marketing campaign to get participation from students, faculty and staff of UW-Madison. A lot of plastic waste was collected from three different buildings at UW-Madison. The polymer blends were prepared in a Leitritz ZSE18HPe laboratory, modular intermeshing, co-rotating twin-screw extruder and subsequently pelletized with the appropriate downstream equipment (a water-through, blown-air drier and a rotary cutter). All blends are extruded using a barrel-temperature profiles of 170-200 &deg;C and screw speed of 50 rpm, 100 rpm and 200 rpm, respectively. Blends of virgin plastic materials, LDPE, HDPE and PP were prepared in various ratios. The properties of the virgin blends will be compared with those of recycled in our University. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and &nbsp;Rheological Behaviors were used to study the properties of virgin vs blends . Preliminarily results are encouraging and work will continue in 2016.</p><br /> <p>Research conducted at the University of California, Davis, (CA) proved lignin to be a highly effective &ldquo;green&rdquo; multi-functional binding, complexing and reducing agent for silver cations as well as capping agent for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles on ultra-fine cellulose fibrous membranes. Silver nanoparticles could be synthesized in 10 min to be densely distributed and stably bound on the cellulose fiber surfaces at up to 2.9 % mass. The silver nanoparticle sizes may be synthesized from 5 to 100 nm in diameters by controlling the reaction time. Cellulose fiber bound silver nanoparticles did not agglomerate under elevated temperatures and showed improved thermal stability. The lignin bound silver nanoparticles on cellulose fibers exhibited moderate UV absorbing ability in both UV-B and UV-C regions and excellent antibacterial activities toward Escherichia coli.</p><br /> <p><strong>Objective 4</strong></p><br /> <p>The University of Nebraska-Lincolon (NE) was developing an environmentally responsible sizing/slashing agent to substitute PVA, which is a major problem for high chemical oxygen demand (COD) in textile effluent and on the development solvent dyeing systems for cotton, polyester and PLA that could eliminate dyeing effluents.&nbsp; The large scale industrial demonstration on feasibility of soy proteins as effective slashing agent for textile weaving to substitute PVA proved to be a breakthrough this year. The industry high speed weaving tests showed, first time in the world, that soy protein is the first possible substitution of PVA for polyester and poly/cotton high speed weaving. Such a substitution could substantially decrease COD from textile effluent, since PVA is the largest contributor to textile COD.</p>

Publications

<ol><br /> <li>Vinogradova, Y.S. and Chen, J.Y. Micron- and Nano-Cellulose Fiber Generated from Ionic Liquid. The Journal of the Textile Institute, 2015. DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2015.1040693.</li><br /> <li>Sun, L., Chen, J.Y., Jiang, W., and Lynch, V. Crystalline Characteristics of Cellulose Fiber and Film Regenerated from Ionic Liquid Solution. Carbohydrate Polymers, 118, 150-155. (2015).</li><br /> <li>Nguyen, K., Liu, Y., Allen, A., Zoldan, J., and Chen, J.Y. Regenerated Cellulose Nanofiber as Scaffold Biomaterial. Book of Abstracts of the Fiber Society&rsquo;s Fall Meeting and Technical Conference Fibers: Where Tradition Meets Innovation. October 28-30, 2015, Raleigh, NC.</li><br /> <li>Chen, J.Y., Sun, L., Jiang, and Edwards, J.V. Regenerated Cellulose Fiber and Film Immobilized with Lysozyme. Bioceramics Development and Applications, 4(1): 078. (2014) doi: 10.4172/2090-5025.1000078.</li><br /> <li>Chen, L.Y., Wang, B.J., Ruan, X.H., Chen, J.G. and Yang, Y.Q. Hydrolysis-free and fully recyclable reactive dyeing of cotton in green, non-nucleophilic solvents for a sustainable textile industry. Journal of Cleaner Production. 107, 550-556 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Mu, B.N., Xu, H.L., and Yang, Y.Q. Accelerated hydrolysis of substituted cellulose for potential biofuel production: kinetic study and modeling. Bioresource Technology. 196, 332-338 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Xu, H.L., Shen, L., Xu, L., and Yang, Y.Q. Low-temperature crosslinking of proteins using non-toxic citric acid in neutral aqueous medium: mechanism and kinetic study. Industrial Crops and Products. 74, 234-240 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Reddy, N. and Yang, Y.Q. Review: Potential use of plant proteins and feather keratin as sizing agents for polyester-cotton. AATCC Journal of Research, 2(2), 20-27 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Xu, H.L. and Yang, Y.Q. Nanoparticles derived from plant proteins for controlled release and targeted delivery of therapeutics. Editorial, Nanomedicine. 10(13), 2001-2004 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Xu, S.X., Chen, J.G., Wang, B.J., and Yang, Y.Q. Molecular Surface Area Based Predictive Models for the Adsorption and Diffusion of Disperse Dyes in Polylactic Acid Matrix. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 458, 22-31 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Liu, P., Xu, H.L., Mi, X., Xu, L., and Yang, Y.Q. Oxidized sucrose: a potent and biocompatible crosslinker for three-dimensional fibrous protein scaffolds. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. 300(4), 414-422 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Xu, S.X., Chen, J.G., Wang, B.J., and Yang, Y.Q. A Sustainable and Hydrolysis-Free Dyeing Process for Polylactic Acid Using Non-Aqueous Medium. ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering. 3(6), 1039-1046 (2015). Cover Report.</li><br /> <li>Xu, H.L., Liu, P., Mi, X., Xu, L., and Yang, Y.Q. Potent and regularizable crosslinking of ultrafine fibrous protein scaffolds for tissue engineering using a cytocompatible disaccharide derivative. Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Materials for Biology and Medicine. 3(17), 3609-3616 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Zhao, Y. Z., Zhao, Y., Yang, Y.Q. Modified Soy Proteins to Substitute Non-Degradable Petrochemicals for Slashing Industry. Industrial Crops and Products. 67, 466-474(2015).</li><br /> <li>Ma, Z.Z., Pan, G.W., Xu, H.L., Huang, Y.L., Yang, Y.Q. Cellulosic fibers with high aspect ratio from cornhusks via controlled swelling and alkaline penetration. Carbohydrate Polymers. 124, 50-56, (2015).</li><br /> <li>Reddy, N., Shi, Z., Xu, H.L., and Yang, Y.Q. Development of Wheat Glutenin Nanoparticles and their Biodistribution in Mice. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A. 103(5), 1653-1658, (2015).</li><br /> <li>Chen, L.Y., Wang, B.J., Chen, J.G., Ruan, X.H. and Yang, Y.Q. Comprehensive Study on Cellulose Swelling for Completely Recyclable Non-Aqueous Reactive Dyeing. Industrial &amp; Engineering Chemistry Research. 54(9), 2439-2446. (2015).</li><br /> <li>Zhao, Y., Zhao, Y.Z., Xu, H.L., and Yang, Y.Q. A Sustainable Slashing Industry Using Biodegradable Sizes from Modified Soy Proteins to Replace Petro-Based Poly(vinyl alcohol). Environmental Science &amp; Technology. 49(4), 2391-2397(2015).</li><br /> <li>Xu, H.L., Shen, L., Xu, L. and Yang, Y.Q. Controlled delivery of hollow corn protein nanoparticles via non-toxic crosslinking: in vivo and drug loading study. Biomedical Microdevices. 17(1) (2015).</li><br /> <li>Ye, T., Wang, B.J., Liu, J., Chen, J.G., Yang, Y.Q. Quantitative Analysis of Citric Acid/Sodium Hypophosphite Modified Cotton by HPLC and Conductometric Titration. Carbohydrate Polymers. 121, 92-98 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Liu, L.Y., Chen, Z.Z., Wang, B.J., and Yang, Y.Q. Improving wet strength of soy protein films using Oxidized Sucrose. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 132(7), 41473 (7 pgs) (2015).</li><br /> <li>Reddy, N., and Yang, Y.Q. Innovative Biofibers from Renewable Resources. 454 p. 10 parts, 75 Chapters and 210 illustrations. Springer-Verlag Berlin. Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN 978-3-662-45135-9; ISBN 978-3-662-45136-6 (eBook). DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-45136-6. Springer Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London. Library of Congress Control Number 2014957175. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heigelberg. (2015).</li><br /> <li>Yang, Y.Q., Xu, H.L. and Yu, X. ed. Lightweight Materials from Biopolymers and Biofibers. ACS Symposium Series 1175. Copyright: American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. USA. 299pp. ISBN: 978-0-8412-2990-7; eISBN: 978-0-8412-2997-6; DOI: 10.1021/bk-2014-1175. October 21, 2014.</li><br /> <li>Dharmalingam, S., Hayes, D. G., Wadsworth, L. C., Dunlap, R. N., DeBruyn, J. M., Lee, J., Wszelaki, A. L. Soil degradation of polylactic acid / polyhydroxyalkanoate-based nonwoven mulches, Journal of Polymers and the Environment 23(3), 302-315 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Dharmalingam, S., Hayes, D. G., Wadsworth, L. C., and Dunlap, R.N. Analysis of the time course of degradation for fully biobased nonwoven agricultural mulches in compost-enriched soil, Textile Research Journal, (2015), in press.</li><br /> <li>Miles, C., Ghimire, S., Peyron, M., and Hayes, D.G. Biodegradable Mulch Films and Their Suitability for Organic Agriculture, BC Organic Grower, 18 (4), 28-29 (2015).</li><br /> <li>DeBruyn, J. M., Bandopadhyay, S., Hayes, D. G., Inglis, D. and Miles, C. Biodegradation: Putting biology to work.&nbsp; Extension Fact Sheet. BiodegradableMulch.org. (2015).</li><br /> <li>Banerjee, A., and Sharma, S. Study of Biocompatibility and Cell proliferation on Microalgal Polyhydroxy Butyrate (PHB) Fibrous Structures for Wound Healing Applications. American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) International Conference at Savannah, GA, March 2015.</li><br /> <li>Banerjee, A., and Sharma, S. Cyanobacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates: A Biosynthesis and Industrial Economics Perspective. BSRI Annual Retreat, UGA, GA, May 2015.</li><br /> <li>Banerjee, A., Singh, M., Das, K.C., and Sharma, S. Study of Biodegradable Polyesters from Algal Sources for Use in Future Textile Fiber Applications. AATCC Journal of Research. (2015), in print.</li><br /> <li>Jiang, F., Hsieh, Y. L. Cellulose nanocrystal isolation from tomato peels and assembled nanofibers, Carbohydrate Polymers, 122: 60-68 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Gu, J., Hsieh, Y. L. Surface and structure characteristics, self-assembling and solvent compatibility of holo-cellulose nanofibrils, ACS Applied Materials &amp; Interfaces, 7(7), 4192&ndash;4201 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Jiang, F., Hsieh, Y. L. Novel holocellulose nanocrystals: amphiphilicity, O/W emulsion and self-assembly, Biomacromolecules, 16, 1422-1441 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Hu, S., Hsieh, Y. L. Synthesis of surface bound silver nanoparticles on cellulose fibers using lignin as multi-functional agent, Carbohydrate Polymers, 131:134-140 (2015).</li><br /> <li>Zhong, Y. and Netravali, A. N., Green Surface Treatment for Water Repellant Cotton Fabrics, Surface Innovations, (2015), Published online. DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jsuin.15.00022">http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jsuin.15.00022</a>.</li><br /> <li>Kalita, D. and Netravali, A. N., Interfaces in green composites, Reviews of Adhesion and Adhesives, 3 (4), pp. 386-443, (2015). DOI: 10.7569/RAA.2015.097311</li><br /> <li>Hoiby, J. and Netravali, A. N. Can we build with plants? Cabin construction with Green Composites, Journal of Renewable Materials, 3 (3), 244-258, (2015).&nbsp; DOI:10.7569/JRM.2015.634110.</li><br /> <li>Lubasova, D., Netravali, A. N. and Mullerova, J., Water Resistant Plant Protein-based Nanofiber Membranes, J. Appl. Polym. Sci, Published online 1-8-2015. DOI: 10.1002/app.41852.</li><br /> <li>Qiu, K. and Netravali A. N., Polyvinyl Alcohol based Biodegradable Polymer Nanocomposites, Chapter in Biodegradable Polymers: Advancement in Biodegradation Study and Applications, pp 325-279, C. C. Chu, (Ed.), Nova Publishers, Inc., New York, (2015).</li><br /> <li>Roy Jr Gan and Majid Sarmadi &ldquo;Modeling Degradation of Dye Molecules into Water, Light Molecular and Gaseous Components&rdquo; AATCC Journal of Research, Vol, 2, No. 3, pp21-29, 2015</li><br /> <li>Y. Li, S. Manolache, Y. Qiu and M. Sarmadi, &ldquo;Effect of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Treatment condition on Adhesion of Ramie Fibers to Polypropylene for Composite &rdquo;,&nbsp;J of Applied Surface Sci., &nbsp;364, pp294-301, 2015</li><br /> </ol>

Impact Statements

1. During biodegradation of nonwoven fully biobased PLA + PHA plastic mulches in ambient soil, microorganisms induce an opening up of the supramolecular structure during the first 4 weeks. Subsequently, the microorganisms utilize the more readily available biopolymeric component (PHA in the case of PLA + PHA mulches; PLA of amorphous morphology for 100% PLA mulches) during the first 20 weeks. Subsequently, the biopolymers undergo slow and steady depolymerization.

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Report Information

Participants

Anil Netravali: Cornell University
Majid Sarmadi: University of Wisconsin
Suraj Sharma: University of Georgia
Sergiy Minko: University of Georgia
Douglas Hayes: University of Tennessee
Yan Vivian Li: Colorado State University

Brief Summary of Minutes

The visit began with a pre-meeting at Jenny’s At the Wharf (668 Water St SW, Washington, DC 20024) at 11:30 am. The attending members discussed the goal of meeting with NIFA national program leaders. The goal of the NIFA meetings was to communicate with NIFA program leaders on how best S-1054 multistate cooperative research project could align with the funding areas in FY 2017.

 1. The 1^st meeting with Dr. Daniel Schmoldt was held in room 3211 in NIFA building at 12:30 – 2:00 pm. Dan is the national program leader in the Division of Agricultural systems. Notes from the meeting are as below.

1. Daniel Schmoldt engages land-grant universities, national laboratories, industrial partners, and other federal agencies to mine sensor and instrumentation technology advancements along with decision support systems for processing of agricultural/forest products, precision agriculture/forestry, and environmental quality.


2. Dan welcomed the group. The meeting began with a brief introduction around the table. Suraj shared the slides from the member who were not present in the meeting. Dan asked the group what college each member’s home department belongs to at their respective schools.


3. Some of the members shared more details of the ongoing research. Anil introduced his green chemistry research. His work focuses on transforming agricultural waste materials into fiber-reinforced composites. Majid did too, and also commented that textile related research was used to be one of major focused areas of USDA funding in the past, but it seemed not any more recently. Some experiences with HATCH funds he had in recent years suggested the proposals didn’t get passed through first screening in the evaluation review process as long as “textiles” was read in keywords of the proposals, although they were considered as competitive proposals.


4. Dan was positive about the research work carried in the group. With more details of the failed proposals, Dan responded and suggested to rephrase the keywords possibly used in proposals. He followed with more details about the programs he oversees, including bio-based and bio-engineered products and processes. “Bio” related work is highly supported at USDA and NIFA in current as well as FY2017 budgets. We are encouraged to rephrase and focus on bio related products and processes when writing a proposal.


5. The average success rate in his program is 10%. One area/keyword recommended by Dan is nanotechnology. He suggested us to discuss depth in our next week with Dr. Hongda Chen.


6. Some focused areas in his programs include bio-based products and processes, sustainable processes, nanotechnology, and nano-sensors. Other than technical development that he is interested, he is also interested in the studies of social aspects, such as social acceptance of bio-based products and processes and consumer perception of these new technologies.


7. Dan confirmed that “textiles” is not a red flag, but recommended to rephrase keywords to better fit in the mainstream of USDA/NIFA funding areas. Four challenges in FY2017 USDA/NIFA research interest are energy (efficiency), food, robot, and water.


8. Sergiy asked if nanotechnology is one of focus area, which was positively confirmed by Dan.


9. Vivian asked if multi-PIs were encouraged on proposal writing. Dan encouraged multi-PIs proposals. 3-5 PIs are typical and collaboration cross the states is encouraged.


10. Dan also recommended the group to look at some grants on planning multi-PI proposals, such as conference grant, with a goal of planning complex multistate research project.

 2. The 2^nd meeting with Dr. Hongda Chen was held in room 2411 in NIFA building at 2:10 – 3:30 pm. Hongda is the national program leader in the Division of Food Safety. Notes from the meeting are as below.

1. Hongda Chen provides national leadership to develop nanoscale science, engineering, and technology for agriculture and food systems, and provides national leadership in engineering approaches for research, development, education and extension in food quality, safety and nutritional value.


2. Hongda welcomed the group. The meeting began with a brief introduction around the table. Suraj shared the slides from the member who were not present in the meeting. Hongda also gave a detailed his background, his expertise and responsibilities at NIFA. Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. in engineering from University of California, Davis, and served as a professor of food engineering at the University of Verment for more than 10 years before joining USDA/NIFA in 2000. He has been on committee of nanoscale science, engineering and technology since 2001. He was appointed as a Co-Chair of the 2010 national nanotechnology initiative strategic planning committee.


3. Hongda first ensured that nanotechnology related research still attract funding budget in US administration level, potentially with $700M in FY2017, which is double compared with the budget in FY 2016. USDA/NIFA has determined three focus areas in FY 2017: food, energy, and water. Some specific areas of interest: bio-based materials, global food production, food safety, food security, nutrition, quality and quantity of food, climate change, water quality and treatment (usable and nonusable).


4. When asked if textile and fiber research still falls in the scope of funding areas, Hongda commented that it is critical to address if any specific textile and fiber research can potentially help the main challenges (food, energy, and water) that USDA/NIFA wants to support. If textile and fiber research has the potential to help in these areas, USDA/NIFA is interested in funding it.


5. When asked if nanocellulose research is of interest, Hongda was very positive. He specifically pointed out that it is critical to investigate the interaction of nanoparticles with microbial, bacteria, and pathogens.


6. Hongda also commented on what makes a successful proposal at NIFA. A successful proposal composes of good work plan, clear objectives, feasible outcome, and good management of data as well as team.

3. The 3^rd meeting with Dr. Daniel Cassidy was held in room 3111 in NIFA building at 3:40 – 4:50 pm. Daniel is the national program leader in the Division of Bioenergy. Notes from the meeting are as below.  

1. Daniel Cassidy provides national leadership for forest management, forest-based bioenergy initiatives, and renewable energy and conservation research-education-extension activities.


2. Daniel welcomed the group. The meeting began with a brief introduction around the table. Suraj shared the slides from the member who were not present in the meeting. Daniel also gave the group a self-introduction. His expertise is in woody biomass and bio-products. He introduced Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) program in the past years. The BRDI program essentially focuses on advanced biofuels, bioproducts, and biobased chemicals. The FY2017 solicitation is not yet available, with a target release date in April, 2017.


3. Daniel also commented on Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). The FY 2016 AFRI focused on bio-manufacturing and creation of product from organic matters. The funded proposals could be $10M/year for 5 years. The FY2017 AFRI is not yet released.


4. Daniel talked about SBIR grants (phase I and phase II). Depending on the year of submission, the successful rate could be high (30%).


5. A couple of keys points were mentioned by Daniel to make a successful proposal, including research impact (scientific) as well as job creation.


6. The group was encouraged to look into FY2017 RFAs, which might be soon released in April. Potential multi-state (PIs) proposals were encouraged.

 

After having had NIFA meetings, the group had a wrap-up discussion on next steps. A couple of members showed interest in applying from conference grant, which may help us brainstorm research ideas and shape multi-PIs proposals.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Yan Vivian Li

(Secretary)

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

Anil Netravali, Cornell University; Yiqi Yang, University of Nebraska; Sergiy Minko, University of Georgia; Chunhui Xiang, Iowa State University; and Yan Vivian Li, Colorado State University.

Brief Summary of Minutes

1. The meeting began at 12:00pm with a telephone call to the project's Administrative Advisor Dr. Robert Shulstad.

Dr. Shulstad commented that federal spending on infrastructure will be continuously increased. Two AES bills are in the ballots, which would potentially spin out more Ag appropriation committee including $25M AFRI funding and $200M new national foundation that focuses on production, reproduction, and processing, in particular hemp research around medical and industrial applications for scientific areas of interest. Dr. Shulstad expressed optimism on farming bills that encourages research around consumer sciences and family studies.

Dr. Shulstad indicated that he will retire from his current university position on July 1st, 2017 and suggested that the S-1054 group should search for potential administrative advisor to replace Dr. Shulstad next year. We were reminded that an annual report is due in 60 days from today's meeting.

2. After the telephone call with Dr. Shulstad, attending members took a lunch break at 12:45 – 1:15 pm. The meeting was called to order at 1:15 pm. Secretary Yan Vivian Li welcomed everyone and thanked Anil Netravali for taking care of room and lunch arrangement. All attending members discussed the timing of annual report. The Chair and Secretary for 2016 was discussed and Yan Vivian Li (Colorado State U.) and Chunhui Xiang (Iowa State U.) were voted in for the respectively positions. Individual reports will be submitted to Yan Vivian Li by Thanksgiving to allow time for revision and edit by the group for submission by December 12, 2016.

3. Research station report: Station reports from committee members started at 1:45 pm and ended at 3:30 pm with brief Q&A and discussions at the end of each. Please see the consolidated annual report.

4. Further discussions also included collaboration, capability and institution facility and funding for research. Location for 2017 meeting was discussed. UGA was suggested favorably for meeting team's Administrative Advisor Dr. Robert Shulstad and teaming again with 2017 Fall Fiber Society meeting, respectively.

Respectfully submitted,
Yan Vivian Li (Secretary)

Accomplishments

<p>Objective 1 To develop novel biobased polymeric materials<br />CA: At the University of California, Davis, scientists have developed new method and applied additional process to derive highly crystalline nanocellulose from under-utilized agricultural by-products, i.e., rice straw as well as studied the self-assembling ability of nanocelluloses. One dimensional mesoporous acid catalysts have been synthesized from lignin based activated carbon fibers (ACFs) via sulfonation and hydrothermal treatment to contain 0.56 mmol/g sulfonic and 0.88 mmol/g total acid for direct hydrolysis of highly crystalline rice straw cellulose. These ACF acid catalyst could directly hydrolyze rice straw cellulose to yield exclusively glucose and cellulose nanofibrils (2.1 nm thick, 3.1 nm wide, up to 1 &mu;m long) while could be easily separated for repetitive hydrolysis of additional cellulose. Complete valorization of rice straw cellulose has been demonstrated by direct hydrolysis with these 1D acid catalysts to superior glucose selectivity while generating high value cellulose nanofibrils.</p><br /> <p>Aqueous counter collision (ACC), a method employing low energy input (15 kWh/kg) shear force, could completely defibrillate rice straw cellulose into cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). The CNF yields were more than double of those from wood pulp by other mechanical means, but at a lower energy input. The smallest (3.7 nm thick, 5.5 nm wide) CNFs were significantly smaller, only a third or less, than those ACC processed from wood pulp, bamboo and microbial cellulose pellicle. The less than 20 nm thick CNFs could self-assemble into continuous sub-micron (136 nm) wide fibers or semi-transparent films with superior mechanical properties (164 MPa tensile strength, 4 GPa Young&rsquo;s modulus, 16% strain at break). ACC defibrillated CNFs retained the same chemical and crystalline structures and thermal stability as the original rice straw cellulose and are far superior than TEMPO oxidized CNFs and sulfuric acid hydrolyzed cellulose nanocrystals from the same rice straw cellulose.</p><br /> <p>Self-assembling of CNFs as affected by varying extent of protonation on C6 surface carboxyls were investigated using TEMPO oxidized and mechanically blended CNFs with identical geometries and level of oxidation. CNFs with surface carboxyls protonated at 10.3-100% self-assembled into amphiphilic fibrous mass to porous and more thermally stable ultra-thin film like structure. Ultrafiltration and air-drying induced cyrstallIzation led to more thermally stable, semi-transparent and hydrophilic films that showed no affinity towards non-polar toluene. These results show CNF surfaces could be protonationed to varying degrees, along with drying processes, could create amphiphic fibrous to hydrophilic film morphologies, expanding manners to generate new structures.</p><br /> <p>CO: Colorado State University has recently initiated a biobased material project that focused on industrial hemp stalk for the potential application in medical textiles. It is known that hemp fibers have some superior physical and chemical properties including excellent mechanical strength, microbial resistance, and hand and softness. Although hemp fibers are commercially manufactured for textiles at large scale in many other areas of the world, the research paradigm around industrial hemp seeds, oils and fibers has been recently open in some of states in the US, such as the State of Colorado. In the preliminary work, hemp stalks were decorticated to produce bast fibers. The cleaned stalks were submerged in an aqueous-based decortication solution mixed with an iron-based catalyst. The solution was heated between 80 &ndash; 100 &deg;C and added hydrogen peroxide to decorticate the plant biomass material and to separate cellulose fibers (0.5 &ndash; 5 inches) for potential fiber applications. Currently, the resulting fibers are being evaluated for microstructures, mechanical properties, and antimicrobial properties.</p><br /> <p>NE: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln continued its development of biofibers from agricultural by-products, co-products and wastes for use in textiles, composites and medical applications. One focus was on the development of natural cellulosic fibers from cotton stalk with high aspect ratio, which is crucial to the high quality applications of these fibers in textiles and composite reinforcement. Another focus was on the continued improvement of polylactide properties from the molecular level via the study of PLLA-PDLA interlocked structure for the better applications of PLA in textiles, and on keratin manipulations for various applications. Some of the outcomes and milestones are significant. It has been demonstrated that cotton stalk fibers, blended with cotton, could make fabrics with good mechanical and dyeing properties. A green process was also invented for hair perming and straightening using environmentally responsible and non-toxic chemical systems.</p><br /> <p>NY: Cornell University has continued to develop biodegradable &lsquo;green&rsquo; resins and composites. One focus was on self-healing proteins for medical textile applications. In the present research self-healing soy protein isolate (SPI) based &lsquo;green&rsquo; thermoset resin was developed using SPI (healant) encapsulated poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)(PLGA) microcapsules (SPI-PLGA-MCs). SPI resin was crosslinked to improve its mechanical properties. A water-in-oil-in-water emulsification technique was used to fabricate SPI-PLGA-MCs. Effects of microencapsulation formulation and processing parameters such as PLGA and poly(vinyl alcohol) concentrations (1 or 5%) and homogenization speed (1,000 or 10,000 rpm) were investigated on size, size distribution, protein loading, encapsulation efficiency, morphology of the microcapsules as well as their self-healing efficiency. SPI-PLGA-MCs produced using homogenization speed of 10,000 rpm had an average diameter of 0.76 &mu;m and contained smaller size of subcapsules within themselves. Whereas, microcapsules produced using homogenization speed of 1,000 rpm were larger with an average diameter of 9.1 &mu;m and contained diverse size of subcapsules inside. The PVA concentration did not show any significant effect on the SPI-PLGA-MCs size. However, at higher PVA concentration (5% of SPI-PLGA wt) aggregation of microcapsules resulted because of the excess PVA residing on the microcapsule surface. Higher PVA also resulted in better bonding of SPI-PLGA-MCs with the SPI resin, resulting in higher self-healing efficiency. The self-healing efficiency for various formulations studied varied between 29% and 53%. The SPI-PLGA-MCs prepared using 1% PLGA, 5% PVA and homogenization speed of 10,000 rpm resulted in the highest self-healing efficiency of 53%.</p><br /> <p>In addition, self-healing soy protein-microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) green composites were developed. The SPI-PLGA-MCs were prepared using a green solvent, ethyl acetate, which showed protein loading of over 50%. Self-healing SPI composites with uniformly dispersed MFC (10wt%) and SPI-PLGA-MCs (15wt%) had Young&rsquo;s modulus of close to 1 GPa and strength of 15.2 MPa whereas SPI composites with only 10wt% of MFC had Young&rsquo;s modulus of 1.4 GPa and strength of 24.5 MPa. The significantly higher tensile properties compared to pure SPI resin was due to the inherent high tensile properties of MFC and excellent hydrogen bonding with SPI resin. Self-healing mechanism, i.e., bridging of fracture surfaces of the microcracks by the healing agent (SPI), was observed through SEM imaging. Composites with no SPI-PLGA-MCs showed no self-healing whereas self-healing SPI composites showed 27% healing efficiency after 24 h of healing.</p><br /> <p>In another study at Cornell University, toughened SPI resins were developed using natural rubber (NR) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR). Resin compositions containing up to 30wt% NR or ENR were prepared and characterized for their physical, chemical and mechanical properties. Cross-linking between SPI and ENR was confirmed using 1H-NMR and ATR-FTIR. All SPI/NR resins exhibited two distinctive drops in their modulus at glass transition temperature (Tg) and degradation temperature (Td) at around -50 and 215&deg;C, corresponding to major segmental motions of NR and SPI, respectively. SPI/ENR resins showed similar Tg and Td transitions at slightly higher temperatures. For SPI/ENR specimens the increase in ENR content from 0 to 30wt% showed major increase in Tg from -23 to 13&deg;C as a result of cross-linking between SPI and ENR. The increase in ENR content from 0 to 30wt% increased the fracture toughness by about 800% with minimum loss of tensile properties. The results indicated that ENR was not only more effective in toughening SPI than NR but the tensile properties of SPI/ENR were also significantly higher than the corresponding compositions of SPI/NR.</p><br /> <p>Cornell University also focused on developing green composites based on non-edible starch-based resin and micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC). Starch was extracted from mango seeds, a waste source freely available in tropical regions. Micro fibrillated cellulose (MFC) was used to reinforce mango seed starch-based resin in order to take advantage of the chemical similarity between the starch and the cellulose which results in good interfacial bonding. Uniform dispersion of MFC in starch was obtained using homogenizer. Further, this MFC/MSS mixture was crosslinked using an environment friendly crosslinker, 1,2,3,4-butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA). Crosslinking was confirmed directly using ATR-FTIR spectra. MFC/MSS green composites were prepared by solution casting method. Tensile and thermal properties of these green composites were comparable to the edible starch-based composites.</p><br /> <p>GA: The University of Georgia has investigated the preparation of a core- sheath arrangement where Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) forms the core yarn and Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) nanofibers forms the sheath, which is prepared using electrospinning. The PHB polymers extracted from cyanobacterial species were used in the electrospinning for nano fiber production. The resultant core sheath nanospun yarn was characterized for its morphology, thermal properties, biocompatibility and cytotoxicity to support its use in the biomedical textile applications. The results showed that the incorporation of microalgal Polyhydroxybutyrate in the form of nano- fibrous sheath increased the biocompatibility of the core Polylactic acid yarn due to the improved cell adhesion properties of the yarn. A core sheath yarn arrangement is defined as a structure made of a separable core constrained to be at the central axis permanently and surrounded by fibers, which act as the sheath. The core yarn serves as a base collector/template for the sheath fibers that cover and coat it uniformly to produce a uniaxial yarn which exhibits high surface area and attractive performance properties. This arrangement shows improved transportation properties (thermal, moisture, liquid, air) compared to the core yarn and has several vital applications in the field of smart and industrial textiles, filtration, tissue engineering and biomedical devices. Despite the stated advantages, very limited literature is available on the continuous production of integrated electrospun core-sheath nanoyarn production.</p><br /> <p>In another study at the University of Georgia, nanocellulose (NC) hydrogel textile dyeing and finishing technology has been developed and tested at the laboratory scale. We have studied the mechanisms of the functionalization of textiles using NC fibers as a functional coating material. The mechanisms involve incorporation of functional molecules/particles in individual and networked NC fibrils, followed by the subsequent anchoring of the NC network to the textile surfaces via hydrogen/covalent bonds, crosslinking, and physical entrapment/entanglement. Expand range of functional additives to NC textile will be finishes by December 2017. The goal is to develop pilot manufacturing line in UGA for nanocellulose hydrogel by December 2017.</p><br /> <p>IA: Iowa State University has developed biodegradable nanofibers from fermented tea and biobased materials for textiles and composites. To reduce the environmental impact of textile and apparel production, new composites have been developed by using renewable cellulose fiber and biopolymer obtained from agricultural products such as corn or soy. The scientists have worked on development of bacterial cellulose nanocomposites from with enhanced mechanical strength by incorporating electrspun poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibers. The resulted bacterial cellulose with PLA nanocomposites showed lower water absorptionNew products developed from the composites have good tensile strength and relatively low moisture regain which are the key parameters for regular daily wear.</p><br /> <p>TX: The University of Texas at Austin has developed activated carbon fiber (ACF) from sawdust wood biomass and investigated the fabrication and application of the ACF. Sawdust wood biomass was first liquefied with phenol and phosphoric acid and synthesized by hexamethylenetetramine. Then a melt-spinning method was used to convert the liquefied wood compound into cellulose fiber. ACF was produced by carbonizing and activating the resulted cellulose fiber with different processing conditions. A supercapacitor was produced with two electrodes made of ACF, two current collectors (carbon paper) and one separate layer (glass fiber). Cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge (GC) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) testing were applied to evaluate the electrochemical properties of the cellulose-precursor ACFs.&nbsp;It was found&nbsp;that the ACF processing conditions (carbonization temperature and activation methods) are key factors to determine ACF micropore size and distribution. It was revealed that with a specifically controlled condition specific capacitance could reach as high as 225 F g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1. With 10,000 charge-discharge cycles at 3 A g-1 the supercapacitor could keep 94.2% capacity, showing outstanding electrochemical performance.</p><br /> <p>Research progress was also made in cellulose-based biocompatible nanofiber for tissue scaffold application. A major objective of this study was to use cellulose nanofiber scaffolds as a medium for drug delivery of different drugs such as antibiotics, anticancer medication, or other model drugs. The cellulose micro-nano fiber (CMNF) matrices were prepared by electrospinning and then a model drug was applied and integrated into the CMNF web. Drug release data was gathered using UV photospectrometry and FT-IR spectroscopy. The surface properties of the fibers were also studied. Tests were run on the wettability and contact angle of the fiber matrices in order to provide more insight on how the material interacts with drug-loaded water solution. The results showed that the cellulose fibers were able to encapsulate and release the drug with repeatable results. The drug release profiles from the CMNF matrices indicated that the drug release rate could be determined by a Fickian diffusion model.</p><br /> <p>MS: Mississippi State University investigated biological cellulosic materials that were developed from sweet potatoes. The biological cellulosic materials were &ldquo;leather-like&rdquo; and testable. Specially, the scientists have been able to reduce the maturation time to 7-10 days from 14-18 days. The leather-like materials are being evaluated for their physical and chemical properties.</p><br /> <p>Objective 2: to develop and evaluate biobased fibrous products for eco-friendly crop protection.</p><br /> <p>TN: Through a major USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant received by (Project Director) Hayes, Wadsworth, Belasco, and collaborators at the University of Tennessee, Washington State University, and Montana State University, the long-term implications of deploying on soil quality, the soil microbial community, specialty crop production, pests and diseases, and consumers will be investigated via a transdisciplinary approach (http://biodebradablemulch.org). The group has investigated the effect of field weathering and simulated weathering of commercially available and experimentally derived biodegradable plastic mulch films, and are currently completing the physicochemical analysis of the mulches. The work further focused on analyzing data (and collecting additional data) for a soil burial study of nonwoven fully biobased mulches that provided the change of physicochemical parameters during the time course of biodegradation during a 40-week period. The milestones already reached include 1) completion of data analysis investigating the effect of weathering on physicochemical properties of biodegradable plastic mulches (in progress) by Fall, 2016, 2) determination of the biodegradability of biodegradable plastic mulches in ambient soil and industrial composting (standardized) conditions.by December, 2018 (in progress).</p><br /> <p>Objective 3: to develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications.</p><br /> <p>CA: Research conducted at the University of California, Davis, has streamlined an aqueous brief and mild alkaline process to isolate cellulose-rich fraction from rice straw for the preparation alkaline cellulose nanofibrils (ACNFs) and hemicellulose and lignin (HL) at 36.5 and 18.1 % yields, respectively. Thin films constructed from HL and CNF films showed improved transparency, flexibility as well as insolubility in water. Such HL-nanocellulose films were also compared with those constructed with other rice straw cellulose nanocrytals (CNCs) via sulphuric acid hydroplysis and CNFs via either TEMPO oxidation (OCNFs) or Aqueous Counter Collision (ACCCNFs). CNC-HL film absorbed least moisture, transmitted least moisture vapour and exhibited the highest Young's modulus whereas HL-ACNF films had highest tensile strength and the strain at break. This work, for the first time, demonstrated that nanocelluloses in parallel to hemicelluloses/lignin were efficiently isolated and reconstructed into holistic biocomposite films from a single biomass, i.e., rice straw. The structure-properties relations were clearly elucidated to show that tensile strength and elongation to be most enhanced by ACNFs where tensile modulus as well as moisture transmission and content most improved by CNC, showing great feasibility of re-engineering agricultural residues into value-added barrier film materials.</p><br /> <p>Objective 4: to develop and evaluate methods to remove dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water</p><br /> <p>NE: The University of Nebraska-Lincolon had developed an environmentally responsible sizing/slashing agent from soy protein isolates and soymeal to substitute PVA, which is a major problem for high chemical oxygen demand (COD) in textile effluent and on the development solvent dyeing systems for cotton and wool to decrease and eliminate dyeing effluents, with a focus on reusing waste carpets as composites materials. It was demonstrated through lab-scale studies that soymeal could be used to substitute PVA for polyester and poly/cotton high speed weaving. If successful on large scale trials, a low cost a substitution of PVA could be possible and industrialized in the near future to substantially decrease COD from textile effluent.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Publications

<p style="text-align: justify;">Peer-reviewed Journal Papers<br />1. Dong, Z., Hou, X.L., Haigler, I., and Yang*, Y.Q. Preparation and properties of cotton stalk bark fibers and their cotton blended yarns and fabrics. Journal of Cleaner Production. 139. 267-276 (2016).<br />2. Xu, H.L., Yang, M.P., Hou, X.L., Li, W., Su, X.Z., Yang*, Y.Q. Industrial trial of high-quality all green sizes composed of soy-derived protein and glycerol. Journal of Cleaner Production. 135. 1-8(2016).<br />3. Zhao, Y., Xu, H.L., Mu, B.N., Xu, L. and Yang*, Y.Q. Biodegradable soy protein films with controllable water solubility and enhanced mechanical properties via graft polymerization. Polymer Degradation and Stability. 133. 75-84(2016).<br />4. Zhao, Y., Xu, H.L., Mu, B.N., Xu, L., Hogan, R., and Yang*, Y.Q. Functions of soymeal compositions in textile sizing. Industrial Crops and Products. 89. 455-464(2016).<br />5. Pan, G.W., Zhao, Y., Xu, H.L., Ma, B.M., and Yang*, Y.Q. Acoustical and Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Composites from Discarded Carpets. Composites Part B-Engineering. 99. 98-105(2016).<br />6. Song, K.L., Xu, H.L., Xie, K.L., and Yang*, Y.Q. Effects of chemical structures of polycarboxylic acids on molecular and performance manipulation of hair keratin. RSC Advances. 6(63). 58594-58603 (2016).<br />7. Ma*, B.M., Qiao, X., Hou, X.L., and Yang*, Y.Q., Pure keratin membrane and fibers from chicken feather. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. 89, 614-621(2016).<br />8. Chen, L.Y., Duan, Q., Chen, J.G., Yang, Y.Q., and Wang*, B.J., Antioxidant-assisted coloration of wool with xanthophylls extracted from corn distillers&rsquo; dry grain. Coloration Technology. 132 (3), 208-216 (2016).<br />9. Liu, J., Wang, B.J., Xu, X.M., Chen, J.G., Chen, L.Y., and Yang*, Y.Q. Green Finishing of Cotton Fabrics Using Xylitol-Extended Citric Acid Cross-linking System on a Pilot Scale. ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering. 4(3), 1131-1138 (2016).</p><br /> <p style="text-align: justify;">10. Pan, G.W., Zhao, Y., Xu, H.L., Hou, X.L., and Yang*, Y.Q. Compression Molded Composites from Discarded Nylon 6/Nylon 6,6 Carpets for Sustainable Industries. Journal of Cleaner Production. 117. 212-220 (2016).<br />11. Chen, L.Y., Wang, B.J., Chen, J.G., Ruan, X.H. and Yang*, Y.Q. Characterization of dimethyl sulfoxide-treated wool and enhancement of reactive wool dyeing in non-aqueous medium. Textile Research Journal. 86(5). 533-542 (2016).</p><br /> <p style="text-align: justify;">12. Xu, S.X., Chen, J.G., Wang, B.J., and Yang*, Y.Q. An Environmentally Responsible Polyester Dyeing Technology Using Liquid Paraffin. Journal of Cleaner Production. 112. 987-994 (2016).<br />13. Huang, Y., Peng, L., Liu, Y., Zhao, G., Chen, Y.J., and Yu, G. Biobased nano porous active carbon fibers for high-performance supercapacitors. ACS Applied Materials &amp; Interfaces, 2016. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b02214.<br />14. Huang, Y., Liu, Y., Zhao, G., and Chen, J.Y. Sustainable activated carbon fiber from wood sawdust by reactivation for high-performance supercapacitors. Journal of Materials Science, 2017, 52, 478-488.<br />15. Chen, J.Y., Activated Carbon Fiber and Textiles (Chen, J.Y Editor), Elsevier Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Oxford, England, 2016.<br />16. Liu, Y. and Chen, J.Y. Enzyme immobilization on cellulose matrixes. Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers. 2016, 31(6), 553-567. doi: 10.1177/0883911516637377.<br />17. Sathiskumar Dharmalingam , Douglas G. Hayes, Larry C. Wadsworth, and Rachel N. Dunlap, 2016, Analysis of the time course of degradation for fully biobased nonwoven agricultural mulches in compost-enriched soil, Textile Research Journal, 86 (13), 1343-1355.<br />18. D.G. Hayes and L.C. Wadsworth, 2016. Finding Out How Biodegradable Plastic Mulches Change Over Time, USDA-SCRI Project Fact Sheet Report No. PA-2016-01, posted at http://biodegradablemulch.org.<br />19. Kim, J. R. and Netravali, A. N., "Self-Healing Properties of Protein Resin with Soy Protein Isolate-Loaded Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) Microcapsules", Advanced Functional Materials, 26, pp. 4786-4796, 2016. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201600465<br />20. Kim J. R. and Netravali, A. N., Comparison of Thermoset Soy Protein Resin Toughening by Natural Rubber and Epoxidized Natural Rubber, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., In Press, 11-11-2016. DOI: 10.1002/app.44665<br />21. Kim J. R. and Netravali, A. N., The Effect of Microencapsulation Parameters on Soy Protein Isolate-loaded PLGA Microcapsule Characteristics and Self-Healing of Soy Protein Based &lsquo;Green&rsquo; Resin, J. Mater. Sci., Accepted, 11-2016.</p><br /> <p style="text-align: justify;">22. Jiang, F., T. Kondo, Y.-L. Hsieh, Rice straw cellulose nanofibrils via aqueous counter collision and differential centrifugation and their self-assembled structures, ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering, 4: 1697-1706 (2016).<br />23. Jiang, F., Y.-L. Hsieh, Self-assembling of TEMPO oxidized cellulose nanofibrils as effected by protonation of surface carboxyls and drying methods, ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering, 4:1041-1049 (2016).<br />24. Hu, S., J. Gu, F. Jiang, Y.-L Hsieh, Holistic rice straw hemicelluloses/lignin and nanocellulose composite films, ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering, 4: 728-737 (2016).<br />25. Hu, S., F. Jiang, Y.-L Hsieh, 1D Lignin based solid acid catalysts for direct hydrolysis of crystalline cellulose, ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering, 3:2566-2574 (2015).<br />26. Sergiy Minko, Suraj Sharma, Ian Hardin, Igor Luzinov, Sandy Wu Daubenmire, Andrey Zakharchenko, Raha Saremi, Yun Sang Kim, Less Textile dyeing using nanocellulosic fibers, Patent US 2016/0010275 A1.</p><br /> <p style="text-align: justify;">Conference Presentations/Abstracts/Posters<br />27. Yunsang Kim, Lauren Tolbert, Eliza Lee, Corbin Feit, Raha Saremi, Ian Hardin, Paula Felix De Castro, Dmitry Shchukin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko, Nanocellulose Functional<br />Coatings on Fabric Surface. The Fiber Society 2016 Fall Meeting and Technical Conference, Cornell University, October 10-12, Ithaca, NY.<br />28. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Eliza Lee, Raha Saremi, Hansol Lee, Corbin Feit, Igor A. Luzinov, Sudhagar Mani, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. &ldquo;Nanocellulose hydrogels for sustainable textile dyeing&rdquo;, International Symposium on Materials from Renewables, Fargo, ND, July 19-20, 2016.<br />29. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Eliza Lee, Raha Saremi, Hansol Lee, Corbin Feit, Igor A. Luzinov, Sudhagar Mani, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. Invited talk: &ldquo;Nanocellulose‐based dyeing: a more sustainable way to dye textiles&rdquo;, American Apparel &amp; Footwear Association Environmental Committee Meeting, Austin, TX, July 19, 2016.<br />30. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Eliza Lee, Raha Saremi, Hansol Lee, Corbin Feit, Igor A. Luzinov, Sudhagar Mani, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. &ldquo;Efficient, Sustainable, and Scalable Textile Dyeing Technology Using Nanocellulosic Fibers&rdquo;, Textile innovation meeting in Walmart U.S. Manufacturing Summit, Bentonville, AR, June 28, 2016.</p><br /> <p style="text-align: justify;">31. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Eliza Lee, Raha Saremi, Hansol Lee, Corbin Feit, Igor A. Luzinov, Sudhagar Mani, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. "Efficient, sustainable, and scalable textile dyeing technology using nanocellulosic fibers&rdquo;, 1st prize winner (&euro;50,000) in Green &amp; Sustainable Chemistry Challenge by Elsevier Foundation, Berlin, Germany, April 3-6, 2016.<br />32. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Eliza Lee, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. &ldquo;Nanocellulose for functional surface modification and coatings on textile fabrics&rdquo;. The Fiber Society 2015 Fall Meeting, Raleigh, NC, October 28-30, 2015.<br />33. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Corbin Feit, Alexey Gruzd, Eliza Lee, Paula F. De Castro Dmitry G. Shchukin, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. &ldquo;Nanocellulose Hydrogels for Functional Coating Materials in Textile Applications&rdquo;, Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Industry Day, Athens, GA, October 20, 2016<br />34. Yunsang Kim, Lauren McCoy, Eliza Lee, Raha Saremi, Hansol Lee, Corbin Feit, Igor A. Luzinov, Sudhagar Mani, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. &ldquo;Sustainable Textile Dyeing Based on Nanocellulose Hydrogels and Reactive Dyes&rdquo;. Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Industry Day, Athens, GA, October 20, 2016<br />35. Lauren Tolbert, Yunsang Kim, Eliza Lee, Mykhailo Savchak, Igor Luzinov, Ian R. Hardin, Suraj Sharma, Sergiy Minko. &ldquo;Development, processing, and novel applications of sustainable nanocellulose gel&rdquo;. 2015 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials, Atlanta, GA, June 22-25, 201<br />36. Banerjee, A., and Sharma, S. Preparation and Characterization of Biodegradable Electrospun core-sheath yarn for Bio-medical purposes. American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) International Conference at Williamsburg, Virginia, April 2016.<br />37. Banerjee, A., and Sharma, S. Polyhydroxyalkanoate based Nano fibrous structures and their application in Biomedical field. Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Industry Day, UGA, GA, October 2016.</p><br /> <p style="text-align: justify;">38. Banerjee, A., and Sharma, S. Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) based Nano-yarn and its Applications in Bio-Textiles. South Eastern Graduate Consortium, Auburn University, Alabama, March 2016.<br />39. Netravali, A. N., Green Materials and Processes: From Sports Gear to Furniture and from Ballistic Applications to Hair Styling, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-B), Mumbai, INDIA, January 11, 2016.<br />40. Netravali, A. N., Green Materials and Processes: From Sports Gear to Furniture and from Ballistic Applications to Hair Styling, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, INDIA, January 11, 2016.<br />41. Netravali, A. N., Green Materials and Processes: From Sports Gear to Furniture and from Ballistic Applications to Hair Styling, NABARD (IIT-B), Mumbai, INDIA, January 12, 2016.<br />42. Netravali, A. N., Advanced Green Composites based on Cross-linked Raw Plantain Starch and Liquid Crystalline Cellulose Fibers, AATCC International Conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, April 19-21, 2016.<br />43. Netravali, A. N. and Khalil, H., &lsquo;Workshop on Advanced Green Composites&rsquo;, Guelph, CANADA, May 31-June 3, 2016.<br />44. Netravali, A. N., Cellulose Fiber Reinforced &lsquo;Green&rsquo; Composites. AAIC International Conference, Industrial Crops: Advancing Sustainability, Rochester, New York, USA, September 24-28, 2016.<br />45. Kim, J. R. and Netravali, A. N., Fully Bio-based Self-healing Composites Using Microcapsules&rsquo;, The Fiber Society 2016 Fall Meeting and Technical Conference, Ithaca, NY, USA, October 10-12, 2016.<br />46. Netravali, A. N., (Keynote Address), &lsquo;Advanced Green Composites&rsquo;, 9th International Conference on Green Composites, Kobe, JAPAN, November 2-4, 2016.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Impact Statements

1. In TX, conversion of lignocellulose biomass into biodegradable and biocompatible specialty fiber materials continues to be environmentally important and economically feasible. These biobased fiber materials become more attractive in high-end novel applications. The accomplished research progress demonstrated the innovative end uses of the cellulose-derived fiber for energy storage and tissue scaffolds. The impact of this research has been made by the dissemination through highly ranked journals.

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Participants

Administrative Advisor: Robert Shulstad, University of Georgia
Clemson University: Srikanth Pilla
Colorado State University: Yan Vivian Li (through Skype)
Iowa State University: Chunhui Xiang
Mississippi State University: Charles Freeman
North Dakota State University: Andriy Voronov
University of Georgia: Patricia Annis, Gajanan Bhat, Sergiy Minko, Suraj Sharma,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Yiqi Yang
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Majid Sarmadi
Welcome and

Brief Summary of Minutes

The meeting began at 12:30pm with box lunch kindly sponsored by Dr. Robert Shulstad.

Dr. Shulstad’s welcome:

 - Emphasized the importance of team effort, working together, functioning as s a team to address a specific topic.

- Encourage the team members to work together to develop joint proposals for any of the agencies.

- Annual report due 90 days from the annual meeting day (Nov. 10, 2017). The annual report of S-1054 project will be due on February 9, 2018. It is important to write the final report with the first two pages catching the attention of the reviewers. Do not use scientific words, make sure the grammar can be understood.

- Asking for extension of the project is no longer an opportunity. We need to submit a NEW proposal to continue of project.

- If the proposal submitted by the end of March, 2018, Dr. Shulstad will still be our administrative advisor and help us get the approval of the proposal by the reviewer committee.

- Invite industry people to join our proposal will strengthen our team.

- The proposal has to be approved by NIFA by Sept 30, 2018 to continue our project.

- There will be a new administrative advisor for the new proposal. Possible candidate will be a person from Tennessee who are closer to the area within the discipline.

- Dr. Shulstad’s shared two reports for general consumers, “Management of Pesticide Resistance” (WEAR – 60 (2007-2012)) and “Conserving Plant Genetic Resources” (S-009 (2003-2013). USDA officer will contact the chair if they are excited for the project and ask the team to write a report for general consumers.

- Not much inside information about the federal budget available.

- “Textiles” is no longer in the area of USDA, we rely on agricultural products in our current proposal.

Questions and Answers:

Majid Sarmadi commented that there is a 50/50 chance of the approval of the project, if we have the proposal submitted by the end of March, 2018, Dr. Shulstad will still be here to approve the project. We will need to work together to get the proposal done on time! Yiqi Yang asked whether the international universities and industry can participate the project. The answer is YES. The international universities and industry can be listed on the project, but they can not be funded by this project for traveling to attend the annual meeting.

Member Introduction

Suraj proposed to vote the approval of the new remembers: Andrigy Voronov from North Dakota State, and Srikanth Pilla from Clemson University. Yiqi second, all the members approved.

1. Gajanan Bhat, University of Georgia: nonwoven, fibers and composites, especially focused on spun-bonded nonwovens, his lab has nonwoven pilot equipment.


2. Sergiy Minko, University of Georgia: nanofibers and nanocellulose, biomedication- bionanofibers, nanocellulose-textile coating.


3. Andrigy Voronov, North Dukota State: Synthesis of polymers, applications in biomedical and drug delivery, synthesis of polymer from vegegeagble oil, coating, hydrophobic


4. Srikanth Pilla, Clemson University: biomechical, automobile, biorenewable material, has several USDA and NSF funded projects on renewable materials. Renewable plant based, sustainability, nanocellulose based interior and exterior, research automobile research.


5. Suraj Sharma, University of Georgia: polymer, fibers, microencapsulation, biosynthesis, biopolyester, used for biomedical application, coating with nanocellulose. Energy harvesting fabrication.


6. Majig Sarmadi, University of Wisconsin-Madison: plasma chemistry, modify polymers, make surface of polymer compatible together. Making ramie compatible with polypropylene compatible, no phase separation, thermal plastics material, melt flow index. Recycling of water from textile industry, make the water reusable, the paper was published at AATCC. Could not detect any organic compound using photoelectronic.


7. Charles Freeman, Mississippi state university: develop based polymers from cotton seed to produce synthetic leather


8. Patti Annis, University of Georgia: collaborate with Suraj, working on microorganism from carpet.


9. Yiqi Yang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: biobased materials for textile application, polysaccharide and protein, chicken feather to make fibers, reactive dyeing with oil (soybean oil, cotton seed oil, degradable) to eliminate salts. Poly(lactic acid) stereocomplexation.


10. Chunhui Xiang, Iowa State University: biobased and biodegradable fibers and composites, bacterial cellulose for sustainable textile materials. Fully biobased plastics with insecticide functionality.

Development of new proposal

Proposal Committee:
Co-chairs: Suraj Sharma and Srikanth Pilla
To submit the proposal by the end of March, 2018, each member needs to be committed and contribute timely!

Major objectives:
1. Soft materials, soft goods,
a) High performance biobased composites materials
b) Fabrics/Textiles
c) Packaging
d) biomaterials
2. Lifecycle, economics analysis
a) Charles Freeman will contact a faculty from Oklahoma State University
3. Education for students and outreach, preparing new generation of renewable and biobased materials.
a) undergraduate
b) graduate
c) outreach
Sub-objectives:
o Polymer science, high performance and sustainable, composite materials, sustainable and renewable materials
o What product can help the agricultural, plant based oil, nanocellulose
o Used agricultural biproducts to develop new materials
o Do something to reduce the food price, lignins, grape seed (to create wine) and oil
o Purify lignin: high and low molecular weight, omega 3 low molecular weight
o Biobased materials: packaging, biocomposites, oil, cellulose, lignin, chemical cellulose
o Genetically modify a plant in a harsh environment
o Cotton ginning – to nanocellulose
o Sweet potato starch to produce PLA
o Non-food application
o New applications of biobased materials to automobile drive the price increase of food
o Agricultural byproducts find better application
o Target multiple products, packaging, biomass
o Gin trash byproduct-short cotton fibers, leaves – convert to useful product, trash to cash. Current process of cotton ginning byproduct is to compound the gin trash as fertilizer.
o Convert wood hard board to wood pulp

Themes:
New generation advanced/commodity materials from agricultural-base- renewable materials
Ask members to add the sub-objectives to each category, then the chair will group all the sub-objectives and form small entities to work on each objectives.
Project discussion and research collaboration
· Within 90 days to submit the yearly report: Each state send the report to Chunhui Xiang by January 15, 2018. Chunhui will send a template and reminder for the report.
· Chunhui Xiang and Yan Vivian Li will lead to work on the two reports: yearly report and end of the project report.
· Submit the report to Dr. Shulstad.
· Look at the format of the RFP of the new proposal
· Look for more reps from NIFA
· To ask Dr. Shulstad for the NIFA reps, the person who graduated from UGA may be helpful.
· Look for the AFRI-NIFA for potential proposals.

Election of 2018 Officers
Chair: Chunhui Xiang
Secretary: Charles Freeman
Next meeting time and location
Location: University of California, Davis
Time: Same as the Fiber Society 2018 Fall Meeting

Lab tour
An official tour to the labs in the Family and Consumer Sciences at UGA was given by Suraj after the meeting was ended.

Respectfully submitted,
Chunhui Xiang (Secretary)

 

Accomplishments

<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Objective 1</span> To develop novel biobased polymeric materials</p><br /> <p><strong><em>CA: </em></strong>At the University of California, Davis, scientists have continued to design and develop sustainable processes to efficiently convert biopolymers, e.g., proteins, cellulose, lignin, etc., into novel nanomaterials and functional products. Specific progress has been made in novel structure and performance develop of nanocellulose products based on prior accomplishment in isolating cellulose from various agricultural residues and food/beverage by-products such as grape and tomato pomance, cotton linter and rice straw and optimizing the derivation of nanocelluloses in varied geometries and surface chemistries.</p><br /> <p>A streamlined alkali process (4 % NaOH, 70&deg;C, 5 min, twice) has been shown to be effective in removing most hemicelluloses, lignin and silica from rice straw to give ca. 10% higher yield of cellulose-rich product that led to alkaline cellulose nanofibrils (ACNFs) at ca. 7% higher yield than CNFs from purified cellulose under the same optimal TEMPO oxidation and mechanical defibrillation process. ACNFs were similar in lateral dimensions (1.25 &plusmn; 0.47 nm) and crystallinity (68 %), but longer and less surface oxidized (65 %) than CNFs and HCNFs (1.55 &plusmn; 0.54 and 1.36</p><br /> <p>&plusmn; 0.62 nm, 69 and 68 % CrI, 85 and 69 % surface oxidization, respectively). These ACNFs were also more thermal stabile and self-assembled into finer fibers (94-197 nm) than CNFs (497 nm). This facile alkali pretreatment is not only highly efficient in generating cellulose for preparing ACNFs with attributes similar to CNFs and HCNFs, but, like HCNFs due to their less pristine nature, also present some unique properties that are promising for advanced applications.</p><br /> <p>CNFs from rice straw have also been assembled into hierarchically macroporous (several hundred micrometer) honeycomb cellular structure surrounded with mesoporous (8-60 nm) thin walls. The high specific surface (193 m2/g) and surface carboxyl content (1.29 mmol/g) of these aerogels were demonstrated to be highly capable of removing cationic malachite green (MG) dye from aqueous media. The rapid MG adsorption was driven by electrostatic interactions and followed a pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetic and monolayer Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The excellent dye removal efficiency was demonstrated by 92 % dye removal in a single batch at 10:5 mg/mL aerogel/MG ratio and 100 mg/L dye concentration and 100 % dye removal through four repetitive adsorptions at a low 1:5 mg/mL aerogel/MG ratio and 10 mg/L dye concentration. The adsorbed MG in aerogels could be desorbed in aqueous media with increasing ionic strength, demonstrating facile recovery of the dye as well as the aerogel for repetitive applications.</p><br /> <p>A facile gelation-crosslinking approach has been devised to fabricate meso- and macro-porous CNF aerogels with multiple improved properties. CNF hydrogels from freezing-thawing were solvent exchanged with acetone then crosslinked with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) to produce aerogels with significantly improved compressive Young&rsquo;s modulus, yield stress and ultimate stress with impressive 1.69, 2.49 and 1.43 scaling factors, respectively. The optimally crosslinked aerogels had nearly tripled specific surface (228 m2/g) and doubled pore volume (1 m3/g) from numerous new 9-12 nm wide mesopores as well as significantly improved thermal stability (43% char residue at 500 C vs. 9.1% for uncrosslinked aerogel). Crosslinking also turned the amphiphilic CNF aerogel to be highly hydrophobic, capable of completely separating chloroform from water via simple filtration. These nanocellulose aerogels show great promise for efficient and continuous separation of oils and hydrophobic liquids from water.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>CO: </em></strong>At Colorado State University, PLGA-gentamicin nanoparticles were made using a water-oil method. The nanoparticles were characterized using SEM, TEM, and Nano-Sizer. Molecular acceptors were also synthesized using a typical culture method. The molecular acceptor was grafted to the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles with the acceptor were mixed in a polyethylene oxide solution. The solution was used to develop Nanofibers via a home-built eletrospinning apparatus. One research grant ($25,000) was received from the research council of the College of Veterinary Medicine &amp; Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. The grant was to support to develop PLGA-gentamicin encapsulated Nanofibers for controlled drug delivery in wound healing</p><br /> <p><strong><em>IA: </em></strong>Iowa State University continued on developing biodegradable nanofibers from fermented tea and biobased materials for textiles and composites. The scientists have worked on development of bacterial cellulose nanocomposites from with enhanced mechanical strength by incorporating electrspun poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibers. The resulted bacterial cellulose with PLA nanocomposites showed improved mechanical properties and lower water absorption, which are the key parameters for textile materials used for regular daily wear.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>NE: </em></strong>The University of Nebraska-Lincoln continued its development of biofibers from agricultural by-products, co-products and wastes and biobased materials from bio-polymers. Our main focus this year is on translational and pilot scale formation of biobased materials with excellent properties and low costs for future industrial productions. The scientists continued their research on keratin and soy protein manipulations for various applications focusing on continuous production of 100% protein fibers, and on reuse waste carpets as composites materials. The scientists have worked on development of fabrics and garments from natural cellulosic fibers from cotton stalk blended with cotton. They have made a garment from cotton stalk fibers, blended with cotton and have demonstrated that the materials from cotton stalk fibers have excellent performance properties.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>NY</em>: </strong>Cornell University has continued to develop biodegradable &lsquo;green&rsquo; resins and composites. The primary focus has been to develop self-healing protein and starch based resins for composite applications as well as self-healing green composites.</p><br /> <p>In the first research self-healing soy protein isolate (SPI) based &lsquo;green&rsquo; thermoset resin was developed using SPI encapsulated poly(D,L-lactide-<em>co</em>-glycolide)(PLGA) microcapsules (SPI- PLGA-MCs). In this system, SPI, when released from the microcapsules, acts as the healant. In these studies SPI resin was crosslinked to improve its mechanical properties. SPI-PLGA-MCs were obtained using the water-in-oil-in-water emulsification technique. Effects of various microencapsulation formulation and processing parameters were investigated on size, size distribution, protein loading, encapsulation efficiency, and morphology of the microcapsules as well as the overall self-healing efficiency. Results of these studies showed that SPI-PLGA-MCs with diameters in the range of 0.8 to 1.5 &mu;m resulted in the highest self-healing efficiency. Also, when the microcapsules contained subcapsules within themselves, the self-healing efficiency was reduced. Microcapsules produced using slower homogenization speed of 1,000 rpm were larger with an average diameter of 9.1 &micro;m and contained diverse size of subcapsules inside. These did not result in high self-healing efficiency. Varying PVA concentration showed no significant effect on the SPI-PLGA-MCs size. However, at higher PVA concentration, microcapsules aggregated because the excess PVA on the microcapsule surface acted as glue. One of the reasons for using PVA was to be able to bond the microcapsules to resin which would assure the fracture of the microcapsules in the path of the microcracks. This was indeed the case and resulted in higher self- healing efficiency. The self-healing efficiency at room temperature (RT) for various formulations studied varied between 29% and 53%. The results indicated that the highest self-healing efficiency of 53% was obtained by SPI-PLGA-MCs prepared using 1% PLGA, 5% PVA and homogenization speed of 10,000 rpm.</p><br /> <p>In the second research area, self-healing green thermoset resin was developed using waxy maize starch (WMS). In this case, self-healing was achieved using waxy maize starch-loaded poly(d,l- lactide-co-glycolide) microcapsules (WMS-PLGA-MCs). The WMS resin was crosslinked using 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA). A similar water-in-oil-in-water emulsification technique was used to obtain WMS-PLGA-MCs. Hydroxyl groups on WMS released from WMS- PLGA-MCs can react with the excess BTCA in the WMS resin and effectively bridge the microcrack surfaces, thus healing the crack. Highest self-healing efficiency in fracture stress of up to 51% and fracture toughness of approximately 66%, after 24 h of healing at RT, was achieved by adding 20% WMS-PLGA-MCs by weight. Self-healing starch-based resin developed in this study is not only green and sustainable but the fabrication processes including microencapsulation are water-based and can be easily scaled up. The nontoxic starch based green resin can be useful for fabricating green composites in many indoor applications such as automotive, aerospace and packaging, to replace currently used petroleum-derived composites.</p><br /> <p>In the third area, self-healing soy protein-microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) reinforced, SPI resin based green (MFC-SPI) composites were developed. In this case a green solvent, ethyl acetate, was used to produce SPI-PLGA-MCs. This process resulted in high protein loading of over 50%. Self-healing MFC-SPI composites with uniformly dispersed MFC (10wt%) and SPI-PLGA-MCs (15wt%) resulted in Young&rsquo;s modulus of about 1 GPa and strength of 15.2 MPa whereas SPI composites with only 10wt% of MFC showed Young&rsquo;s modulus of 1.4 GPa and strength of 24.5 MPa. Both these properties were significantly higher compared to pure SPI resin due to the inherent high tensile properties of MFC and its excellent hydrogen bonding with SPI resin. Self- healing mechanism, i.e., bridging of fracture surfaces of the microcracks by the healing agent (SPI), was observed through SEM imaging. Composites with no SPI-PLGA-MCs showed no self-healing as expected. However, self-healing SPI composites showed 27% healing efficiency after 24 h of healing. This self-healing efficiency is much lowered compared to that obtained for the resin (over 50%) for the reason that while the resin can be self-healed fractured fibers, the reinforcing component, cannot.</p><br /> <p>In the fourth area, a new 1-step process was developed for making green resins based on plant proteins tougher. In this case epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) fibers (ENRFs) were electrospun with diameters ranging from a few hundred nm to a few &mu;m by changing the concentration of ENR solution. A simple 1-step process was developed to directly blend wet electrospun ENRFs into the SPI resin. Surface topography of ENRFs changed from irregular to somewhat bumpy as the ENR concentration increased from 0.1% to 5%. The average diameter of ENRFs also increased from 250 nm to 17 &mu;m with increased concentration. The results indicated that the ENRF (electrospun from 3% concentration) loading from 0 to 20% had a significant increase in the fracture strain of the SPI resin, from 1.7 to 18.8%, over 10 times. This also resulted in increased toughness by a factor of 10. Importantly, tensile strength and Young&rsquo;s modulus remained almost unchanged. Crosslinking between the epoxy groups in ENR and amine and/or carboxylic groups in SPI and the high aspect ratio of the ENRFs seem to contribute to increased toughness of the SPI resin.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>TX: </em></strong>At University of Texas at Austin, research efforts were continuously focused on the development of advanced textile materials using lignocellulose biomass, with specific end uses in energy and healthcare industries. A cellulose-based flexible yarn supercapacitor was produced. Two methods of fabricating complex yarn structure for the supercapacitors were developed. Electrochemical properties of the yarn supercapacitors, in terms of cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge/discharge (GC), electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and capacitance, were measured and analyzed. The research revealed that the unique yarn linear structure could enable to integrate the yarn supercapacitor into various industrial and consumer products such as apparel products, outdoor and sports wears, camp/hike equipment, and specialty rope/cable products.</p><br /> <p>Research progress was also made in the formation and application of a biobased fibrous membrane with micro- and nano-fiber web structure as a drug delivery carrier. Regenerated cellulose micro-/nano- fiber (CMF) webs were fabricated by dry-wet electrospinning. Ibuprofen (IBU) was used as a model drug loaded on the CMF webs using a simple immersing method. The IBU-loaded CMF biomaterials were characterized in terms of polymeric structure, surface morphology, thermal stability, tribological property, and surface tension. The drug release mechanism was modeled numerically.</p><br /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Objective 2</span>: to develop and evaluate biobased fibrous products for eco-friendly crop protection</p><br /> <p><strong><em>TN: </em></strong>Through a major USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grant received by (Project Director) Hayes, Wadsworth, Belasco, and collaborators at the University of Tennessee, Washington State University, and Montana State University, the long-term implications of deploying on soil quality, the soil microbial community, specialty crop production, pests and diseases, and consumers will be investigated via a transdisciplinary approach (http://biodebradablemulch.org). We have investigated the effect of field weathering and simulated weathering of commercially available and experimentally derived biodegradable plastic mulch films, and are currently completing the physicochemical analysis of the mulches. We also further analyzed data (and collected additional data) for a soil burial study of nonwoven fully biobased mulches that provided the change of physicochemical parameters during the time course of biodegradation during a 40 week period.</p><br /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Objective 3:</span> to develop and evaluate biobased products for health and safety applications</p><br /> <p><strong><em>CA: </em></strong>Research conducted at the University of California, Davis, has demonstrated cellulose microfibers to be effective templates to immobilize bacteriophages to broaden their applications in targeting bacterial pathogens in foods and medicine. This study evaluated physical adsorption, protein-ligand binding and electrostatic interactions bound mechanisms so not to chemically nor genetically modifying the phages to enable effective translation of naturally occurring phages and their cocktails for antimicrobial applications. The immobilization approaches were characterized by phage loading efficiency, phage distribution, and phage release from fibers. Overall, the electrostatic immobilization approach bound more active phages than physical adsorption and protein-ligand binding and thus may be considered the optimal approach to immobilizing phages onto biomaterial surfaces.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>NE</em></strong>: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln continued its development of biofibers from agricultural by-products, co-products and wastes and biobased materials from bio-polymers for textiles, composites and medical applications.</p><br /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Objective 4:</span> to develop and evaluate methods to remove dyes and finishing chemicals from textile waste water</p><br /> <p><strong><em>NE: </em></strong>The University of Nebraska-Lincoln continued on developing environmentally responsible sizing/slashing agent from soyprotein isolates and soymeal to substitute PVA, which is a major problem for high COD in textile effluent, and on developing novel dyeing systems for cotton, and wool to decrease and eliminate dyeing effluents. NE scientists have focused on utilization of sorghum byproducts and coproducts, mainly husks and distillers grains for textile dyes and protein extractions, and have developed an excellent natural dye from sorghum husk and the best extraction method of proteins from sorghum distillers. They have made major success in extracting dyes from sorghum husks, and dyed wool with excellent properties, including depth of shades, colorfastness. NE scientists also found that the dyes have excellent fluorescent properties, and UV protections.</p><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p><br /> <h1>Milestones</h1><br /> <p><strong><em>CA: </em></strong>CA researchers have established streamlined processes to isolate cellulose from agricultural crop residues and food/beverage processing waste and develop coupled chemical-mechanical methods to produce varied nanocelluloses, many in near full yields. Unique dimensional attributes and surface chemical and charged characteristics can be targeted by selecting feedstock sources, e.g., cotton linter, rice straw, grape and tomato pomace, etc. as well as specific methods of derivation. These nanocelluloses have shown to be amphiphic, surface-active and capable of self-assembling into thin fibers, films, porous membranes, hydrogels and aerogels, etc.</p><br /> <p>Developing potential applications of these diverse highly crystalline cellulose structures have generated two provisional patents.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>NE</em></strong>: First time in the world, NE scientists have had a breakthrough in their polylactide research, i.e., have made 100% stereo-complexed crystals for PLA fibers with molecular weight up to 6x105. The stereo-complexed structure substantially improved the resistance of PLA plastics against hydrolysis and increased softening points of PLA up to 60C. Such two major improvements provided PLA its possibility to be an excellent engineering plastics for the use at high temperature environments, and for the use in textiles. NE scientists have made major success in extracting dyes from sorghum husks, and dyed wool with excellent properties, including depth of shades, colorfastness. They also found that the dyes have excellent fluorescent properties, and UV protections. NE scientists have made a garment from cotton stalk fibers, blended with cotton and have demonstrated that the materials from cotton stalk fibers have excellent performance properties. A novel green process for hair perming and straightening using environmentally responsible and non-toxic chemical systems is fully developed and ready for industrial utilizations.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>NY</em></strong>: NY research group is the first ever to successfully achieve both self-healing green resins based on plant proteins and starches as well as green composites. Self-healing characteristic can extend their useful life and make it easier for them to replace conventional composites derived from petroleum. SPI resin is brittle, but SPI/ENR green resin with higher toughness could be easily used as fully biodegradable thermoset resin in many applications including green composites. The self-healing technique has been further extended to obtain starch based resins that self-heal and provide significant benefits. Similarly the 1-step process for adding electrospun fibers for resin toughening can also be extended to other resins.</p><br /> <p><strong><em>TN</em></strong>: TN scientists will complete data analysis of investigating the effect of weathering on physicochemical properties of biodegradable plastic mulches by Fall, 2018. The biodegradability of biodegradable plastic mulches in ambient soil and industrial composting (standardized) conditions will be determined by December, 2018.</p>

Publications

<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Peer-reviewed Journal Papers</span></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Vonasek, E., N. Nitin, Y.-L. Hsieh, Bacteriophages immobilized on electrospun cellulose microfibers by non-specific adsorption, protein-ligand binding and electrostatic interactions, <em>Cellulose</em>, 24:4581-4589 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Jiang, F., D.M. Dinh, Y.-L. Hsieh, Adsorption and desorption of cationic malachite green dye on cellulose nanofibril aerogels, <em>Carbohydrate Polymers</em>, 173: 286-294 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Jiang, F., Y.-L. Hsieh, Cellulose nanofibril aerogels: synergistic improvement of hydrophobicity, strength, thermal stability via crosslinking with diisocyanate, <em>ACS Applied Materials &amp; Interfaces</em>, <em>9 </em>(3), 2825&ndash;2834 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Gu, Jin and Y.-L. Hsieh, Alkaline cellulose nanofibrils from streamlined alkali treated rice straw, <em>ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering</em>, 5: 1730-1737 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Yapor, J. P., Alharby, A., Gentry-Weeks, C., Reynolds, M., Alam, A. K. M. M., &amp; Li, Y. V., Polydiacetylene Nanofiber Composites as a Colorimetric Sensor Responding To Escherichia coli and pH. ACS Omega, 2(10), 7334-7342 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Xiang, C., Acevedo, N., In Situ Self-Assembled Nanocomposites from Bacterial Cellulose Reinforced with Electrospun Poly(lactic acid)/Lipids Nanofibers, <em>Polymers</em>, 9(5),179 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Pan, G.W., Xu, H.L., Mu, B.N., Ma, B.M., Yang, J., and Yang, Y.Q. Complete stereo- complexation of enantiomeric polylactides for scalable continuous production, <em>Chemical Engineering Journal</em>. 328. 759-767 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Song, K.L., Xu, H.L., Xie, K.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Keratin-based biocomposites reinforced and crosslinked with dual-functional cellulose nanocrystals, <em>ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering</em>. 5(7), 5669-5678(2017).</li><br /> <li>Ma, B.M., Sun, Q.S., Yang, J., Wizi, J., Hou, X.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Degradation and regeneration of feather keratin in NMMO solution, <em>Environmental Science and Pollution Research</em>. 24(21). 17711-17718 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Hou, L., Fang, F.F., Guo, X.L., Wizi, J., Ma, B.M. Tao, Y.Y., Yang, Y.Q., Potential of Sorghum Husk Extracts as a Natural Functional Dye for Wool Fabrics. <em>ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering</em>. 5(6) 4589-4597(2017).</li><br /> <li>Mu, B.N., Xu, H.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Improved Mechanism of Polyester Dyeing with Disperse Dyes in Finite Dye Bath. <em>Coloration Technology</em>. 133(5). 415-422(2017).</li><br /> <li>Ma, B.M., Yang, J., Sun, Q.S., Jakpa, W., Hou, X.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Influence of Cellulose/[Bmim]Cl solution on the properties of fabricated PVDF membranes. <em>Journal of Materials Science</em>. 52(16). 9946-9957 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Hou, X.L., Zhang, L., Wizi, J., Liao, X.R., Ma, B.M, and Yang, Y.Q., Preparation and properties of cotton stalk bark fibers using combined steam explosion and laccase <em>Journal of Applied Polymer Science</em>. 134(32). 45058 (8 pages) (2017).</li><br /> <li>Zhao, Y., Xu, H.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Development of biodegradable textile sizes from soymeal: a renewable and cost-effective resource. <em>Journal of Polymers and the Environment</em>. 25(2), 349-358 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Cui, L., Reddy, N., Xu, H.L., Fan, X.R., and Yang, Y.Q., Enzyme-Modified Casein Fibers and their Potential Application in Drug Delivery. <em>Fibers and Polymers</em>. 18(5). 900-906 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Song, K.L., Xu, H.L., Mu, B.N., Xie, K.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Non-toxic and clean crosslinking system for protein materials: effect of extenders on crosslinking performance. <em>Journal of Cleaner Production</em>. 150. 214-223 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Song, K.L., Xu, H.L., Xu, L., Xie, K.L., and Yang, Y.Q. Preparation of cellulose nanocrystal-reinforced keratin bioadsorbent for effective removal of dyes from aqueous solution. <em>Bioresource Technology</em>. 232. 254-262 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Xu, H.L., Song, K.L., Mu, B.N., and Yang, Y.Q. A green and sustainable technology for high-efficiency and low-damage manipulation of densely crosslinked proteins. <em>ACS Omega</em>. 2(5). 1760-1768(2017).</li><br /> <li>Ma, B.M., Chen, W.X., Qiao, X., Pan, G.W., Jakpa, W., Hou, X.L., and Yang, Y.Q., Tunable wettability and tensile strength of chitosan membranes using keratin microparticles as reinforcement. <em>Journal of Applied Polymer Science</em>. 134(14). 44667 (9 pages). (2017).</li><br /> <li>Yang, M.P., Xu, H.L., Hou, X.L., Zhang, J., and Yang. Y.Q., Biodegradable sizing agents from soy protein via controlled hydrolysis and dis-entanglement for remediation of textile effluents. <em>Journal of Environmental Management</em>. 188. 26-31(2017).</li><br /> <li>Liu, C., Xu, H.L., Zhao, Y., and Yang, Y.Q., Rheological properties of soy protein isolate solution for fibers and films. <em>Food Hydrocolloids</em>. 64. 149-156 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Kim J. R. and Netravali, A. N., One-Step Toughening of Soy Protein based Green Resin using Electrospun Epoxidized Natural Rubber Fibers, <em>ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering</em>, 5 (6), pp 4957&ndash;4968 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Kim J. R. and Netravali, A. N., Self-Healing Starch-based &lsquo;Green&rsquo; Thermoset Resin,&nbsp;<em>Polymer</em>, 117, pp. 150-159 (2017).</li><br /> </ol><br /> <ol start="24"><br /> <li>Kim J. R. and Netravali, A. N., Self-healing Green Composites Based on Soy Protein and Microfibrillated Cellulose, <em>Composites Science &amp; Technology</em>, 143, pp. 22-30 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Kim J. R. and Netravali, A. N., Parametric study of protein-encapsulated microcapsule formation and effect on self-healing efficiency of &lsquo;green&rsquo; soy protein resin, <em>Journal of Material Science</em>, 52(6), pp. 3028-3047 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Miles, C., DeVetter, L., Ghimire, S., Hayes, D., Suitability of biodegradable plastic mulches for organic and sustainable agricultural production systems, <em>HortScience</em>, in press 52(1):1&ndash;6 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Brodhagen, M., Goldberger, J., Hayes, D.G., Inglis, D.A., Marsh, T., Miles, C., Policy Considerations for Limiting Unintended Residual Plastic in Agricultural Soils, <em>Environmental Science and Policy</em>, 69: 81-84 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Hayes, G., Wadsworth, L.C., Sintim, H.Y., Flury, M., English, M., Schaeffer, S., Saxton,&nbsp;Effect of Diverse Weathering Conditions on the Physicochemical Properties of Biodegradable Plastic Mulches, <em>Polymer Testing, </em>62, 454-467 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Hayes, D.G., The Relationship Between &ldquo;Biobased,&rdquo; &ldquo;Biodegradability&rdquo; and &ldquo;Environmentally-Friendliness (Or the Absence Thereof), <em>Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. </em>94(11), 1329-1331 (2017)</li><br /> <li>Huang, Y. and Chen, J.Y. All-carbon cord-yarn supercapacitor, <em>Journal of Industrial Textiles</em>, 1528083717699370, (2017).</li><br /> <li>Liu, , Nguyen, A., Allen, A., Zoldan, J., Huang, Y., and Chen, J.Y. Regenerated cellulose micro-nano fiber matrices for transdermal drug release. Materials Science &amp; Engineering: C Materials for Biological Applications, 74, 485-492 (2017).</li><br /> <li>Chen, Y, Sun, L., Negulescu, I.I., and Xu, B. Fabrication and Evaluation of Regenerated Cellulose/Nanoparticle Fibers from Lignocellulosic Biomass. <em>Biomass and Bioenergy</em>, 101, 1-8 (2017).&nbsp;</li><br /> </ol><br /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Books and Book Chapters</span></p><br /> <p>Yang, Y.Q., Yu, J.Y., Xu, H.L., and Sun, B.Z. edited book. <strong>Porous Lightweight Composites Reinforced with Fibrous Structures</strong>. 368 pp. 4 parts, 13 Chapters. 140 Figures and 39 Tebles. Published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany. (Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin, Germany). ISBN 978-3-662-53802-9; ISBN 978-3- 662-53804-3 (eBook). DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53804-3. Library of Congress Control Number 2016962702. Copyright Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">https://link.springer.com/download/epub/10.1007/978-3-662-53804-3.epub</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-662-53804-3.pdf</span></p><br /> <p>Xu, H.L., Yang*, Y.Q. 7. Porous Structures from Fibrous Proteins for Biomedical Applications. In <strong>Porous Lightweight Composites Reinforced with Fibrous Structures</strong>. Yang, Y.Q., Yu, J.Y., Xu, H.L., and Sun, B.Z. edited. Published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany. (Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin, Germany). ISBN 978- 3-662-53802-9; ISBN 978-3-662-53804-3 (eBook). DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53804-3.</p><br /> <p>Library of Congress Control Number 2016962702. Copyright Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017. pp 159-177. (2017).</p><br /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Conference Presentations/Abstracts/Posters</span></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Xiang, C., Acevedo, N.C., &ldquo;Biodegradable Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites Reinforced with Electrospun Poly(lactic acid)/Lipids Nanofibers&rdquo;. The Fiber Society 2017 Fall Meeting. Athens, GA, November,</li><br /> <li>Mu, B.N., Xu, H.L., and Yang*, Y.Q. Accelerated Hydrolysis of Cellulosics after Reactive Dyeing. The Fiber Society&rsquo;s Fall 2017 Technical Meeting and Conference and International Symposium on Materials from Renewables (Advanced, Smart, and Sustainable Polymers, Fibers, and Textiles). November 8-10, 2017. Athens, Georgia, USA.</li><br /> <li>Yang*, Y.Q., Pan, G.W., Xu, H.L., Ma, B.M., Qian, Z.L., and Lao, H.Z. Melt-Spun PLLA-PDLA Fibers with Completely Stereo-Complexed Crystallites. 8th International Conference on Advanced Fibers and Polymer Materials. (ICAFPM 2017 Next- Generation Fibers: Changing Our Life), Session H: Natural Fibers and Biomimetic Polymers. Keynote Speech. Shanghai, China. October 8-10,</li><br /> <li>Xu, H.L., Palakurthi, M., Xu, L., and Yang*, Y.Q. Compression molded composites from waste polyester and cotton textiles. Session of Processing &amp; Properties of Biobased Composites &amp; Blends. 253rd ACS National Meeting &amp; Exposition, San Francisco, CA, United States, April 2-6, 2017, CELL-309. (April 4, 1:55-2:20 pm).</li><br /> <li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Yang, Y.Q.,</span> Hou, X.L., Fang, F.F., Guo, X.L., Wizi, J., Ma, B.M., and Tao, Y.Y. Textiles Dyed with Sorghum Husks. The Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board Meeting. Board Room, Nebraska Innovation Campus, 2021 Transformation Drive, Lincoln, NE. November 14, 2017.</li><br /> <li>Yang, Y.Q. Future of Textiles. Junior and senior students from Marian High School. UNL. Nov. 7,</li><br /> <li>Yang, Q. Agricultural Byproducts for a Sustainable Textile Industry. Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China, May 26, 2017.</li><br /> <li>Netravali, A. N., (Invited Research Seminar), Advanced Green Composites, Sukant Tripathy Memorial Symposium, December 1, 2017, Lowell,</li><br /> <li>Netravali, N., (Invited Presentation), Green Materials: From Sports Gear to Ballistic Application and From Housing to Nanofibers, American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), November, 3, 2017, Ithaca, NY.</li><br /> <li>Netravali, A. N., (Invited Research Seminar), Advanced Green Composites, &Aring;bo Akademi University, August 10, 2017, Turku,</li><br /> <li>Netravali, A. N., (Invited Panel presentation), Hemp: From Textiles to Packaging &amp; Composites to Housing, Hemp Summit, April 18, 2017, Ithaca,</li><br /> <li>Netravali, A. N., (Invited Research Seminar), Self-Healing Green Composites, Ohio State University, April 4, 2017, Wooster, OH</li><br /> <li>Netravali, A. N., (Invited Presentation), Green Composites for Architectural Applications, &lsquo;Matter Design Computation: The Art of Building from Nano to Macro&rsquo; Symposium, Preston Thomas Lecture Series, January 10-11, 2017, AAP, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY</li><br /> <li>Netravali, A. N., (Plenary Address), &lsquo;Advanced Green Composites&rsquo;, 25th International Conference on Processing and Fabrication of Advanced Materials, January 22-25, 2017, Auckland, NEW&nbsp;</li><br /> </ol><br /> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Fact Sheet</span></p><br /> <ol><br /> <li>Ghimire, D.G. Hayes, J. Cowan, D. Inglis, L.W. DeVetter, and C. Miles, 2017, Biodegradable Plastic Mulch and Suitability for Sustainable and Organic Agriculture", Washington State University Factsheet FS103E (2017-2093), in press.</li><br /> </ol>

Impact Statements

1. In TX, New technologies for converting lignocellulose biomass into functional high-end textile materials are critical for the enhancement of sustainability of textile and apparel industries. Market demands for biodegradable, biocompatible, and bioactive novel fiber and fabric products keep increasing steadily. The accomplished work helps promote a vision of the cellulose-derived fiber materials for future energy storing and tissue engineering applications. The research progress has been disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals.

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