High Performance Bioderived Hybrid Fillers for Rubber Composite Production (LP200200965)

Biorefining of rice husks for functional biosilica

This project aims to produce sustainable high performance silica from rice husks for rubber and polymer composite applications.  A biorefinery approach will be developed to fractionate rice husks into fermentable sugars, reactive lignin and functional silica. Sugars and lignin can be further upgraded to valuable biofuels, biochemicals and/biopolymers using chemical and/or biological approaches.  Silica will be used as sustainable silica fillers for manufacturing rubber and polymer composites with properties comparable or superior to those containing commercial silica fillers derived from non-renewable quartz sand.


Chief Investigators

Other Team Members

  • Cheng Yan (CI)
  • Steven Pratt (UQ CI)
  • Peter Smart
  • Shaik Muhammadu Muneer

Partners