We focused on preparing cellulose nanofibrils by purification, separation, and mechanical treatment of Kombucha membranes (KM) resulted as secondary product from beverage production by fermentation of tea broth with symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). We purified KM using two alkaline solutions, 1 and 4 M NaOH, which afterwards were subjected to various mechanical treatments. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to evaluate the purification degree, the size and aspect of cellulose fibrils after each treatment step, the physical-chemical properties of intermediary and final product, and for comparison with micro-crystalline cellulose from wooden sources. We determined that 1 M NaOH solution leads to approx. 85% purification, while a higher concentration assures almost 97% impurities removal. XRD analysis evidenced an increase in crystallinity from 37% to 87% after purification, the characteristic diffractograms of Iα and Iβ cellulose allomorphs, and a further decrease in crystallinity to 46% after microfluidization, fact correlated with a drastically decrease in fibrils’ size. FTIR analysis evidenced the appearance of new chain ends by specific transmission bands at 2941 and 2843cm⁻¹.

In this work, Sb (III) adsorption on oxidized exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (ox-xGnP) was evaluated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The ox-xGnP were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Zeta potential analysis. The adsorption parameters, such as pH and contact time, were optimized, and the best adsorption capacity obtained was 8.91 mg g⁻¹ at pH = 7.0, 1.0 mg ox-xGnP/100 mL solution, T = 293 K, 1.0 mg L⁻¹, Sb (III), 25 min contact time. The best correlation of the kinetic data was described by a pseudo-first-order kinetic model, with R² = 0.999. The adsorption isotherms of Sb (III) onto ox-xGnP were best described by the Langmuir isotherm model. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous.

The influence of storage conditions on the mechanical recycling of pre-consumer waste (PRE-CW) from the manufacture of multilayer packaging films starting from starch compounds using a renewable-based polymer with PCL and PBAT, which are biodegradable conventional-based polyesters, was studied. It was found that, unlike materials based on conventional-origin polymers that accumulate in the environment for hundreds of years, the studied compounds degraded, even in the solid state, duringstorage in unventilated spaces and during the rainy hot summers with alternatingheat and rain. The degradation of the mechanically recycled compounds obtained from PRE-CW stored in such conditions was highlighted by the comparative analysis with the primary compounds, which proved the following: specific FTIR spectra changes; 2–3-times higher melt fluidity than for primary compounds; melting in successive processes over the entire positive temperatures range, up to 115 °C, such as in cases of compositional de-mixing of incompatible blends, faced to a single melting endotherm with a maximum at around 120 °C for the primar thermal degradation with the movement of the main destruction stages towards higher temperatures; a high quantity residue at 750 °C in air; dispersed mechanical resistance properties y compounds; crystallization at temperatures 10 °C–15 °C higher. The elimination of storage before the mechanical recycling of the pre-consumer waste from this type of polymeric compound fabrication is a way to increase the mechanical recycling efficiency while obtaining new materials with functional properties required by the applications.

Cellulose destruction reactions consist of a series of physico-chemical phenomena, which cause the shortening of macromolecular chains.

Current plant growth trends coupled with advanced analysis and in-field monitoring are oriented towards new agricultural inputs that protect and stimulate plant development.

Honey is a natural product composed of more than.