LGP2 is looking for a PhD student in materials engineering to work on the absorbent part of a sanitary napkin: “Chemical and physical modification of lignocellulosic fibres for superabsorbency in biodegradable sanitary napkins”.
Over the course of her life, a woman uses an average of 15,000 sanitary pads. A considerable proportion of these products are made from materials such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and super absorbent polymers (SAP), which degrade slowly. This leads to the accumulation of non-biodegradable waste, which takes up valuable landfill space and presents a potential risk of chemical contamination of soil and groundwater.
Furthermore, in many developing countries, limited access to affordable and safe menstrual hygiene products can have adverse health and social consequences for women and girls.
The ANR NAPKINS project is led by a multi-partner, multi-disciplinary consortium and aims to provide a proof of concept for the development of 100% biobased, biodegradable and cost-effective sanitary towels, obtained by simple processes using biobased resources.
Entitled “Chemical and physical modification of lignocellulosic fibers for superabsorbency in biodegradable sanitary napkins”, the thesis will be carried out within the framework of WP2 of the ANR NAPKINS, which focuses on the formulation of the absorbent part of the napkin. The research work will focus on the chemical modification of lignocellulosic biosourced fibers to provide them with absorbency, retention and antibacterial properties, via various physicochemical and microbiological characterization methods. Biodegradability analysis of the materials produced will also be essential.
In a second phase, the absorption of nano/micro-particles and various biosourced polymers will also be studied to improve the properties of interest.
The PhD student will be required to conduct a bibliographical study, propose and carry out experimental protocols, take characterization methods into his/her own hands in various fields, and valorize his/her results, within the consortium and with the rest of the scientific community.
This thesis project will be carried out at LGP2 under the supervision of Prof. Mohamed Naceur Belgacem, Dr. Bastien Michel and Dr. Cécile Sillard.