The complexity of the vulcanized rubber makes it difficult to be degraded by microorganisms. It is believed that a microbial consortium can improve the efficiency of the biodegradation process. Fertile soil houses a plethora of microorganisms with innate ability to adapt to various chemical substances come into contact with its texture. Consequently, a soil sample which was in direct contact with tire wastes for more than 13 years was employed in this work to enhance the biodegradation of natural rubber (NR) gloves. The active soil microorganisms associated with the NR latex degradation were isolated and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing method. The biodegradation of NR gloves in the soil sample containing these bacteria was investigated and the results represented 87% and 79% weight loss in the examination and surgical gloves after 12 months of treatment, respectively. The total biodegradation was achieved after 13 and 15 months which was nearly half of the reported time in the landfill processes. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed 15% incremental weight decrease for the treated samples after three months in comparison with the blanks and the FT-IR spectra approved the breaking of the cross-link sulfur bonds as well as the formation of carbonyl groups which indicated oxidative cleavage of double bonds of the polymer chain. A chemical mechanism for the biodegradation was suggested based on the obtained results to explain the higher efficiency of biodegradation in this work.

It has been suggested that cellulolytic enzymes can be effective on the degradation of PLA samples. The idea was investigated by examining the impact of cellulase on degradation of PLA and PLA-jute (64/36) composite in an aqueous medium. The obtained results demonstrated 55% and 61% thickness reduction in PLA and PLA-jute specimens after four months of treatment, respectively. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) showed significant decline in the number average molecular weight (Mn) approximately equal to 85% and 80% for PLA and PLA-jute in comparison with their control. The poly dispersity index (PDI) of PLA and PLA-jute declined 41% and 49% that disclosed more homogenous distribution in molecular weight of the polymer after treatment with cellulase. The cellulase promiscuity effect on PLA degradation was further revealed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis where substantial decrease in the peak intensities of the polymer related functional groups were observed. In addition, PLA biodegradation was studied in more detail by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) of control and cellulase treated specimens. The obtained results confirmed the promiscuous function of cellulase in the presence or the absence of jute as the specific substrate of cellulase. This can be considered as a major breakthrough to develop effective biodegradation processes for PLA products at the end of their life cycle.

The biodegradation of PLA and PLA-Jute (64/36) in an aqueous media with Aspergillus flavus CCUG 28296, as well as its cell-free enzyme extract, was investigated through their physical, molecular, and thermal characterization. Results indicated that the thicknesses of the fungal treated PLA and PLA-jute samples during seven months have reduced by 52% and 63%, respectively while for the enzyme-treated samples, 45% and 49% reduction in the thickness has occurred. Moreover, the gel permeation chromatography (GPC) revealed a substantial decrease (about 75%) in the weight average molecular weight (Mw) of PLA and PLA-Jute treated with fungus, which confirmed the effective performance of A. flavus on the biological degradation of PLA. The obtained results were further supported by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) of the treated and control samples as well. Interestingly, the observed reduction in the Mw of PLA in PLA-Jute was 64% after the enzymatic treatment, while for the unblended PLA, it was just about 32%. These results pointed to the synergistic effect of jute on PLA degradation because of the promiscuous activity of the effective enzymes on jute degradation, which could accelerate the PLA decomposition.

Dissolution of cellulose is an important but tough step in biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials. Steam and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) explosion are two effective methods for dissolution of some lignocellulosic materials. Loading and explosion are the major processes of these methods. Studies of these processes were performed using grand canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations at different pressure/ temperature conditions on the crystalline structure of cellulose. The COMPASS force field was used for both methods. The validity of the COMPASS force field for the calculations was confirmed by comparing the energy and structures obtained from molecular mechanics simulations of cellobiose (the repeat unit of cellulose), water–cellobiose, water-cellobiose pair and CO2-cellobiose pair systems with those obtained from first principle calculations with and without dispersion correction. A larger disruption of the cellulose crystal structure was seen during loading than that during the explosion process. This is seen by an increased separation of the cellulose chains from the centre of mass of the crystal during the initial stages of the loading, especially for chains in the outer shell of the crystalline structure. Reducing and non-reducing ends of the cellulose crystal show larger disruption than the central core; this leads to increasing susceptibility to enzymatic attack in these end regions. There was also change from the syn to the anti torsion angle conformations, especially for chains in the outer cellulose shell. Increasing the temperature increases the disruption of the crystalline structure during loading and explosion.

Dissolution of cellulose is an important but complicated step in biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials. Steam and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) explosion are two effective methods for dissolution of some lignocellulosic materials. Loading and explosion are the major processes of these methods. Studies of these processes were performed using grand canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations at different pressure/ temperature conditions on the crystalline structure of cellulose. The COMPASS force field was used for both methods. The validity of the COMPASS force field for these calculations was confirmed by comparing the energies and structures obtained from this force field with first principles calculations. The structures that were studied are cellobiose (the repeat unit of cellulose), water–cellobiose, water-cellobiose pair and CO2-cellobiose pair systems. The first principles methods were preliminary based on B3LYP density functional theory with and without dispersion correction. A larger disruption of the cellulose crystal structure was seen during loading than that during the explosion process. This was seen by an increased separation of the cellulose chains from the centre of mass of the crystal during the initial stages of the loading, especially for chains in the outer shell of the crystalline structure. The ends of the cellulose crystal showed larger disruption than the central core; this leads to increasing susceptibility to enzymatic attack in these end regions. There was also change from the syn to the anti torsion angle conformations during steam explosion, especially for chains in the outer cellulose shell. Increasing the temperature increased the disruption of the crystalline structure during loading and explosion.

membranes using a hierarchical modeling strategy to bridge the scales required to describe and understand the material. Quantum Mechanical (QM) and optimized Molecular Mechanical (MM) models are used to describe details on the nanoscale, while a multiscale continuum mechanical method is used to model the graphene response at the device or micrometer scale. The complete method is obtained on the basis of the Cauchy Born Rule (CBR), where the continuum model is coupled to the atomic field via the CBR and a local discrete fluctuation field. The MM method, often used to model carbon structures, involves the Tersoff--Brenner (TB) potential; however, when applying this potential to graphene with standard parameters one obtains material stress behavior much weaker than experiments. On the other hand, the more fundamental Hartree Fock and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods are computationally too expensive and very limited in terms of their applicability to model the geometric scale at the device level. In this contribution a simple calibration of some of the TB parameters is proposed in order to reproduce the results obtained from QM calculations. Subsequently, the fine-tuned TB--potential is used for the multiscale modeling of a nano indentation sample, where experimental data are available. Effects of the mechanical response due the calibration are demonstrated.

The calculations presented here, which include dynamics simulations using molecular mechanics forcefields and first principles studies, indicate that the COMPASS forcefield is preferred over the Dreiding and Universal forcefields for studying dissolution of large cellulose structures. The validity of these forcefields was assessed by comparing structures and energies of cellobiose, which is the shortest cellulose chain, obtained from the forcefields with those obtained from MP2 and DFT methods. In agreement with the first principles methods, COMPASS is the only forcefield of the three studied here that favors the anti form of cellobiose in the vacuum. This forcefield was also used to compare changes in energies when hydrating cellobiose with 1–4 water molecules. Although the COMPASS forcefield does not yield the change from anti to syn minimum energy structure when hydrating with more than two water molecules – as predicted by DFT – it does predict that the syn conformer is preferred when simulating cellobiose in bulk liquid water and at temperatures relevant to cellulosedissolution. This indicates that the COMPASS forcefield yields valid structures of cellulose under these conditions. Simulations based on the COMPASS forcefield show that, due to entropic effects, the syn form of cellobiose is energetically preferred at elevated temperature, both in vacuum and in bulk water. This is also in agreement with DFT calculations.