Materials created

When I worked at Queen's at the Polymer Processing Research Centre, I developed some blends comprising recycled plastic and other common waste materials (concrete waste, red mud, plant fibres) mixed with different grades of virgin plastic for rotational moulding (medium density polyethylene).

I created a composite of recycled high-density polyethylene and coffee dregs for my Doctoral thesis to be used as raw material for bricks. I discovered that this material was able to reduce odours, and I patented a specific formulation in Brazil for this purpose. I've had my big "Eureka" moment with this material, realising that I had finally become a researcher. I saw that I was able to discover in the scientific literature what I needed to understand my results on my own, without the help of a supervisor.

I created a composite of high-density polyethylene and sugarcane bagasse in my master's to obtain a material that could substitute for cardboard or kraft paper. In this study, I realised how much natural fibres increase the compressive strength of plastic, and the idea came to me to create a material to produce bricks.

This is the most common type of plastic waste globally and is an inevitable by-product of post-consumer plastic separation. It is made from cross-linked polymers, rubbers, polyolefins, foams and composites - which are considered non-recyclable plastics. I started studying this material in 2010 and found that it can be processed similarly to conventional plastics. My golden dream is to use this material as a base for producing plastic bricks.

Due to my experience as an architect, I studied a way to use this waste from civil construction as a filler in polyolefinic composites. The results were encouraging, but I still need to improve some aspects of this research.

I became interested in this material after the environmental disasters in Mariana and Brumadinho, Brazil. It is a bauxite residue, an industrial waste generated during the refining of bauxite into alumina, and constitutes an environmental problem that has not yet been resolved. I see red mud as a nanofiller to be exploited to reinforce polymeric nanocomposites.