Open Access

Articles

Article ID: 2798

Gate to gate life cycle assessment of plywood manufacturing in India

by V. Prakash, S. K. Nath, D. Sujatha, D. N. Uday, B. S. Mamatha, M. C. Kiran, Narasimhamurthy

Ecomaterials, Vol.5, No.1, 2025;

A gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted for 1 cubic meter (m³) of finished plywood with density 600 kg/m³ for four different plywood manufacturing facilities based on their location, production capacity and the variety of products manufactured. Primary data on inputs (raw materials, energy consumption, etc.) and the outputs (plywood and the byproducts) were collected through questionnaires by interacting with staff working in different sections of the production plants. Primary data collected were used to simulate the plywood manufacturing process in GaBi (software for LCA) and secondary data was sourced from the GaBi professional database 2011 to ascertain its environmental impacts in terms of material use and emissions. Primary energy demand, greenhouse gases (GHG) and other organic and inorganic emissions have been determined for various processes involved in plywood production. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions broken down by individual processes as biogenic and fossil emissions and also (CO₂) sequestered during each process by the way of output product have also been carefully assessed. Major electrical energy consumption is found to be in veneer peeling, veneer drying, and hot pressing of plywood, whereas veneer drying is found to be thermal energy intensive, which gives impetus to develop energy-efficient veneer dryers with automation. Material recovery varies from factory to factory for various reasons, such as the quality of the logs, the skills of the laborers/machine operators, etc. The highest material recovery of all the factories considered in this study is found to be 63%, which is a clear indication of ample scope for improvements. Variation in the electrical and thermal energy was observed for different production facilities, mainly due to the production practices and extent of mechanization involved. It is inferred from the study that compared to other materials, viz., steel, aluminum, etc., plywood stores a net amount of carbon than emitted during its manufacture, which is mainly attributed to wood, a biogenic material that absorbs CO₂ from the atmosphere and is the major raw material for plywood manufacturing, and hence plywood can be regarded as a green building material.

Open Access

Original Research Articles

Article ID: 22

Classification and research progress of CAD/CAM ceramic materials

by Xinwei GUO, Zhimin ZHANG, Hongyan ZHAO

Ecomaterials, Vol.4, No.1, 2024;

Currently, the most commonly used dental CAD/CAM restorative systems are ceramic materials, which can be divided into resin-ceramic composites, polycrystalline ceramics and glass ceramics according to the differences in composition. Different types of ceramics have major differences in mechanics and aesthetics and need to be selected according to clinical needs and patient demands. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages, for example, glass ceramics are highly transparent but brittle, polycrystalline ceramics are strong but less transparent, and resin-ceramic composites combine the advantages of glass ceramics and resin materials but are less strong. In this paper, we systematically review the compositional classification, the characteristics of each type of ceramic, and recent research advances to help guide clinical selection of CAD/CAM materials.

Open Access

Articles

Article ID: 20

The concept of "osteoimmunomodulation" and its application in the development of "osteoimmune-smart" bone substitute materials

by Zetao Chen, Xiaoshuang Wang, Linjun Zhang

Ecomaterials, Vol.4, No.1, 2024;

The traditional biological principle for developing bone biomaterials is to directly stimulate the osteogenic differentiation of osteoblastic lineage cells, the direct effector cells for osteogenesis. This strategy has been successful for the development of bone biomaterials. However, recent progress in bone biology has revealed the vital role of the local bone microenvironment, especially the immune environment, in controlling osteogenesis. Interdisciplinary osteoim-munology has found that the osteoimmune and skeletal systems are closely related, sharing numerous cytokines and regulators. In addition, immune cells play an important role in the physiological and pathological processes of the skeletal system, suggesting that neglecting the importance of the immune response is a major shortcoming of the traditional strategy. Based on this principle, we propose a novel “osteoimmunomodulation”-based strategy to meet the strict requirements of new-generation bone biomaterials: instead of directly

Open Access

Articles

Article ID: 19

The effect of the osteoimmunomodulatory mechanism on implant osseointegration and bone biomaterials induced bone regeneration

by Jiang Chen, Xuxi Chen, Lin Zhou

Ecomaterials, Vol.4, No.1, 2024;

With the development of implant dentistry and biomaterials, dental implants have become the first rehabilitative option proposed for the treatment of missing teeth. Most studies about dental implants and biomaterials currently focus on osteogenesis and the osseointegration of the implant, neglecting the importance of the immune response. In recent years, the development of osteoimmunology has been one of the greatest achievements in bone biomaterials; osteoimmunology has revealed the vital role of immune cells in regulating bone dynamics, implying the value of studies on materials with favorable osteoimmunomodulatory properties. This article reviews the integration between bone tissue and implants and summarizes the effects of the immune response during osseointegration and new bone formation to show the importance of regulating the immune response in this process. The effect of macrophages on osteogenesis and osteoclastogenesis is then reviewed due to the high plasticity and multiple roles of macro

Open Access

Articles

Article ID: 23

Biodiesel production from fats extracted from coffee husks: esterification with H2SO4 and transesterification with KOH

by Aiello-Mazzarri Cateryna, Salazar Yenmilet, Urribarrí Aidin, Arenas-Dávila Elsy, Sánchez-Fuentes John, Ysambertt Fredy

Ecomaterials, Vol.4, No.1, 2024;

 The search for non-food feedstocks is one of the main challenges in the production of biofuels. For biodiesel, research is oriented towards the use of non-conventional crops, as well as towards residues or wastes with a high content of fats and oils. Coffee grounds contain a good proportion of fats and are a commercial and domestic waste. In this work, the production of biodiesel using fats extracted from coffee grounds was evaluated in a two-step process. The fats extracted from coffee grounds with boiling to reflujo with hexane as solvent presented high acidity, 32.07 ± 0.01% (70.24 ± 0.03 mg KOH/ g fat), indicating a high content of free fatty acids (FFA). First, the fats were esterified at 60°C and 100 rpm, varying the reaction conditions. At the best conditions, 0.7% H₂SO₄ concentration, 1:6 GMR:MeOH for 120 min, the acidity decreased below 1%, with 94.92% FFA conversion to methyl esters. They were subjected to a transesterification process with KOH (1.5% m/v) in the presence of methanol (RMG:MeOH of 1:15) at 60°C and 100 rpm for 30 min. The biodiesel was separated by decantation and purified by successive washes with acidified water, which resulted in a mixture of methyl esters of linoleic (48.40%), palmitic (36.21%), stearic (8.69%) and oleic (6.69%) acids, whose properties conform to the requirements of ASTM D 6751 and EN 14214.

Open Access

Articles

Article ID: 27

Study on biomimetic phospholipid modification of aliphatic polyester biomaterials

by Xiaomin ZHANG, Jin DENG

Ecomaterials, Vol.3, No.1, 2023;

Abstract: It is low feasibility using plasma energy particles to excite, ionize and break bonds molecules on the surface of aliphatic polyester biomaterials to produce new topological structures. The biomimetic phosphatidylcholine modification technology of aliphatic polyester biomaterials was studied. The phosphatidylcholine monomer [2 (methacryloxy) ethyl]phosphatidylcholine was synthesized by reaction of 2 chloro 1, 3, 2 dioxaphosphoric heterocyclic pentane with different raw material solutions; the phosphatidylcholine[2 (methacryloxy) ethyl]phosphatidylcholine, acrylonitrile and water were copolymerized to form PANCMPC; the phosphatidylcholine [2 (methacryloxy) ethyl]phosphatidylcholine was replaced by PANCMPC, and PANCHEMA was obtained by repeated copolymerization. PANCHEMA was reacted with 2 chloro 2 oxygen 1, 3, 2 dioxophosphorus heterocyclic pentane, and then opened with trimethylamine to form biomimetic phospholipid modified PLCANCP. Experiments show that the proposed technology has good hydrophilicit