Erinc Bahcegul

- Synthesis, characterization and processing of biodegradable polymers from lignocellulosic biomass such as corn stover and cob, cotton stalk and sunflower stalk by various techniques including 3D printing, twin-screw extrusion and solvent casting. - Casting hemicellulose and lignin based biodegradable water-soluble films that can be used as oxygen barrier materials and coatings for food packaging. - Ionic liquid treatment of lignocellulosic biomass for the generation of biomass-derived materials.

- Developed an original process on the extrusion of hemicellulose and lignin biopolymers extracted from lignocellulose. - Found that some salts resulting from the alkaline extraction and neutralization process can be beneficial for polymer film formation - Wrote a grant proposal on the extrusion of lignocellulosic agricultural waste based polymers, which was accepted and funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. - Laboratory management and supervision of Ph.D./MSc students.

- Evaluated the alkaline extraction parameters with a novel multi-product 2nd generation biorefinery approach that focuses on the co-production of fermentable sugars and polymer films. - Showed that the ideal particle size of biomass prior to pretreatment with respect to enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency may change from one ionic liquid to another - Inventor in an international patent application on antimicrobial films containing titanium dioxide nanoparticles based on lignocellulosic biopolymers.