Agricultural production is a critically important economic activity, which generates foods, fuels, fibers, and raw materials. Many of the agro-based raw materials are byproducts with relatively low value. One of the emphasis of our research efforts is to convert some of these agricultural materials into potentially value-added products. A recent collaborative approach is to use byproducts of cashew nut production as the agro-based raw materials. Thus, cardanol from the cashew nutshell liquid has been converted to polymers in two different reaction pathways, generating products with interesting properties. Cashew gum, obtained from the bark of the cashew tree, has been converted to carboxymethyl cashew gum and hydrophobically modified polymers. Blends of cashew gum and gelatin have been used for packaging applications and for microencapsulation. Electrosprayed cashew gum microparticles have been found to be useful for the encapsulation of highly sensitive bioactive materials. An overview of these and other applications will be given in this presentation.

Green polymers derived from cashew based raw materials

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.