Karl Englund
Washington State University, WA·Materials Science
Most plastics and composite materials are made from petroleum, and when they are thrown away they are hard to recycle, especially once different plastic types are mixed together. Bioplastics and biocomposites offer an alternative: plastics, coatings, adhesives and fiber-reinforced materials made from renewable feedstocks such as agricultural crops and wood.
- Fields
Materials Science
Engineering
Plant Science & Agriculture
- Topics
bioplastics
biocomposites
renewable feedstocks
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Develop bio-based composites, coatings, adhesives and polymers on industry-relevant technology platforms, targeting materials compatible with current manufacturing systems used by center member companies.
- Build fundamental knowledge of the synthesis, processing, properties and compounding of bioplastics and biocomposites made from agricultural and woody crop feedstocks.
- Develop the science of recycling and end-of-life treatment for sustainable materials, including bio-based composites mixed with petrochemical plastics.
- Generate reliable, standardized materials characterization and processing datasets for industrial partners to support large-scale implementation of renewable materials.
More about the research
For industry to adopt them, however, there has to be dependable data on how they are made, how they behave, and what happens to them at the end of their useful life.
Why it matters
Companies that want to replace petroleum-based plastics with materials from crops and wood need property and processing data that does not yet exist in standardized form. By supplying that data and by developing recycling and end-of-life routes for bio-based composites, including mixtures with conventional plastics, the center could help manufacturers adopt renewable materials with existing equipment, supporting rural crop-based economies and reducing plastic waste.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Eric Cochran
Iowa State University, IA·Materials Science
Develop the science of recycling and end-of-life treatment for bio-based plastics and composites, especially when mixed with petrochemical plastics, including chemical recycling and upcycling routes.
Anqi Ji
Howard University, DC·Materials Science
Chemically modify biomass systematically and characterize it at multiple scales to link biomass structure to interfacial adhesion with polymer matrices in manufactured composites.
Jae-Won Choi
University of Akron Main Campus, OH·Materials Science
Explain how silica-filled rubber in tire tread compounds performs by modeling the complex heterogeneous dynamics inside these filled materials.
The school
Washington State University: 22 labs on PI Pages, $403M a year on research, 259 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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