Visual Abstract (pubs.rsc.org)
Recycling of waste leads to a decrease of environmental pollution and landfill sites.
An addition to DalinYebo’s list of possibilities for furfural residue uses.
From RSC’s Green Chemistry:
In this work, we describe a novel application of furfural residues in fabricating pH-responsive Pickering emulsions and its stable emulsion polymerization. Alkaline lignin extracted from furfural residue is soluble in basic water. However, in the acidic condition, lignin becomes insoluble and particles are formed, which could be used as an effective particular emulsifier for reversible styrene-in-water Pickering emulsions. The emulsions will break when the pH value of the aqueous phase increases. The emulsion system based on a small amount of lignin, 0.05 wt% in water, exhibits a good pH-responsibility. Lignin-coated polystyrene (PS) microparticles and pure PS microparticles have been fabricated using the emulsion template. Furthermore, this lignin emulsifier can be used circularly after polymerization. Finally, we propose a cheap and recyclable route for industrial emulsion polymerization. This work opens up new possibilities of agricultural residues as a valuable and recyclable emulsifier in green chemistry
