Dr. Elias Feghali is a reputable researcher at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) and Assistant Professor at its Faculty of Engineering (FE). He was recently granted a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece, to join a working group at the Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Technology. Within the LignoCOST (COST Action: CA17128) framework, Feghali worked along with Professor Konstantinos Triantafyllidis on the synthesis of bio-based epoxy resins and tested their recyclability compared to petroleum-based epoxies. This research follows their collaboration with the Flemish Institute for Technological Research(VITO) to review lignin-derived epoxy resins.
Per Feghali, the synthesis of epoxy resins from renewable resources has been a prevalent—and challenging—topic of research in the literature over the last few decades. Despite the results accrued thus far, Feghali explains that in order to achieve full circularity of the bio-based materials, end-of-life management is still required. Accordingly, the recycling of epoxy thermosets is a subject of a heated discussion in both academic and industrial circles due to the urgency of implementation as the climate deteriorates. Typically, the cross-linked epoxy resins can be repurposed as fillers in road construction or other articles; however, this is almost always associated with major property loss and downgrading.
The alternative solution to this practice is based on energy recovery via thermal recycling, a direct incineration of the material and subsequent utilization of this energy to power different facilities. Since epoxy resins are often employed in two-component systems, this is a viable option to recover carbon or glass fibers from these materials, although it also involves a disadvantage, namely an inherent loss of the epoxy resin.
In his participation, Feghali’s STSM is a show of the productive collaboration between NDU and AUTH, as both institutions contribute to the growing body of knowledge in sustainable development. This is significant given LignoCOST Action’s outreach: the organization gathers industrial stakeholders, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), academia, and institutes from pan-European regions active in the pulp and paper, agri-food, bio-refinery, chemicals and plastics, infra and building, fuel and energy, and consumer product industries. The main objective of LignoCOST is to establish a sound network covering the entire value chain in which relevant information can be produced with a focus on lignin valorization towards sustainable industrial applications. Only when working together can this information be gathered to cover the technical, non-technical, environmental, and socio-economic implications of the most promising lignin value chains.