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Updated: Feb 26, 2026

Designed for Molecular Recycling: A Lignin-Derived Semi-aromatic Biobased Polymer
Published on: November 30, 2020
Long chain branching as an innovative up-cycling process of polypropylene post-consumer waste - Possibilities and
Florian Kamleitner1, Bernadette Duscher1, Thomas Koch1
1Institute of Materials Science and Technology, TU Wien, Getreidemarkt 9, 1060 Vienna, Austria.
Abstract:
Long chain branching (LCB) was used the first time as an innovative tool for value adding to PP from household post-consumer waste. Due to the highly improved melt properties, the possible application profile is extended and not only a "re-cycling" process, even a real "up-cycling" is presented. The used PP was collected from commingled household polyolefin waste, which contained different types of PP and macromolecular impurities such as 10% of polyethylene with high density (PE-HD). In addition, a single PP waste fraction from cleaned beverage and yoghurt cups was manually sorted. The up-cycled PP from single polymer waste, as well as the post-consumer blend, showed pronounced strain hardening and increased melt strength, which was comparable to LCB-PP prepared from virgin PP. However, the up-cycled post-consumer blend showed weaker mechanical performance especially low elongation at break due to PE-HD.
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