Biodegradable Foams

Biodegradable foams are currently gathering a wide interest from both academia and industry for several reasons. Specifically, resins from crude oil or natural gas are becoming less attractive as the price of the raw materials is increasing substantially. This is stimulating the researchers toward the design and preparation of new products, which may represent a valuable alternative. Also, within the current circular economy concept, further attempts toward the reduction of waste—and consequently, of its environmental impact—are being carried out, aiming at developing polymer resins from renewable sources suitable for producing reliable polymeric foams. In this context, recyclability and/or biodegradability have become very important in modern society, in order to limit the landfill confinement of synthetic plastic waste or products at the end of their life. This also considers the significant growth of the world population and consequently the reduced available space for plastic confinement. These findings justify the potential of these biodegradable polymers (and in particular of biodegradable foams) for different industrial applications. This chapter aims to elucidate the materials, processes, and applications of biodegradable foams. Finally, some perspectives about their possible future development are considered.