Cycle/Years
39th cycle [2023-2026]
Contacts
Supervisors
Dr. Simona Bronco and Prof. Valentina Domenici
Title of the PhD project
Design of innovative materials based on renewable/biobased polymers and Made in Italy agrifood wastes as cutin from tomato and inorganic waste as marble sludge from italian geoclusters
Abstract of the PhD project
The extraction of chemicals from agriculture by-product and wastes has emerged as valuable strategy to avoid the disposal costs of the processes and also to reduce environmental impacts. Cutin is known as the main component of the cuticular membrane of vegetables, fruits and leaf. In particular it represents about the 40-85 wt% of the cuticular membrane of tomatoes. Regarding its chemical structure, cutin is a bio-polyester with chains largely consisted by esterified hydroxylated fatty acids and epoxy hydroxylated of C16-C18 family. The main features that make cutin interesting for eco-designed application on innovative materials are its non-toxicity, biodegradability, and availability. Despite its ubiquity in terrestrial plants, it has been traditionally underutilized as raw material due to its insolubility, but currently it is used to produce bio-resins and bio-lacquers in food packaging applications, mimicking the cuticular membrane natural functions in plants. This PhD project will investigate the processability of cutin in innovative polymer blends considering other biobased/biodegradable/recycle polymer matrices. The project is focused on the optimization of innovative plastic materials, giving new life to industrial waste such as tomato cutin and marble sludge with the improving of the composite properties. As inorganic fillers for potentially improve the viscosity and the processability of these innovative materials another important waste will be investigated: the marble sludge from italian geoclusters.
Academic Fields and Disciplines (SSD), main and secondary
CHIM05
Educational and third mission activities
• “LA PLASTICA. dal riciclo all’ottenimento a partire da scarti agroalimentari”, lezione frontale (2 h) PCTO nell’ambito del progetto “Moduli orientativi di scienze” presso il liceo scientifico Castelnuovo di Firenze 24/05/2024
• “Piccoli Grandi Scienziati (e Cittadini) Crescono”, Rondine Cittadella della pace, 10/05/2024
• “La sostenibilità della plastica”, lezione frontale (1 h) tenuta al CNR alle classi dell’istituto Comprensivo Toniolo, Giornata della solidarietà 2024, 09/05/2024
• Staff Olimpiadi della Chimica 2024, 20/04/2024
• Giornata di formazione insegnanti scuole elementari e medie in merito ad esperienze riguardanti la plastica e l’inquinamento dei mari, 11/03/2024
Publications
• Arrighetti, L., Ricci, L., De Monte, C., Aiello, F., Massa, C. A., Balzano, F., Uccello Barretta, G., & Bronco, S. (2024). Innovative materials based on physical melt-blending of cutin from tomato waste and poly(lactic acid). Materials Today Sustainability, 27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtsust.2024.100852
• Grifoni, M., Pellegrino, E., Arrighetti, L., Bronco, S., Pezzarossa, B., & Ercoli, L. (2024). Interactive impacts of microplastics and arsenic on agricultural soil and plant traits. Science of the Total Environment, 912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169058
• De Monte, C., Arrighetti, L., Ricci, L., Civello, A., & Bronco, S. (2023). Agro-Waste Bean Fibers as Reinforce Materials for Polycaprolactone Composites. Compounds, 3(3), 504–520. https://doi.org/10.3390/compounds3030036
Oral communications at conferences
• Arrighetti, L., De Monte, C., Ricci, L., Granata, U. & Bronco, S., “Bean fibres from agrifood waste as sustainable reinforce material for polycaprolactone based composites”, EMCEI2024, 6th Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration, Marocco, 15-18 May 2024.
Poster communications at conferences
• Arrighetti, L., De Monte, C., Ricci, L., & Bronco, S.,” Effect of high load of bean fibres on PCL based composites for a sustainable management of the agrifood waste resources”, 5th International Congress Innovative Research in Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences (IRPES2023), Pisa (IT), 1 December 2023
Other achievements
• Esame di Stato per l’abilitazione all’esercizio professionale (Chimico), Pisa, 17/11/2022
• Percorso Formativo 24 CFU (PF24)
