Department of Biobased Materials Science,
Graduate School of Science and Technology
Laboratory of Environmentally Benign Polymeric Materials
Welcome to Team Taniguchi!
In this research group, circulation of plastics has been focused, and “environmentally-benign” polymeric materials have been explored and developed. In the 20th Century called “Plastics Age”, wide variety of polymers or plastics were developed, which brought great benefits to us. Those are now essential and requisite in our daily life. However, most of them have been disposed of by incineration including thermal recycling, which results in not only depletion of fossil resources and large energy consumption, but also huge CO2 emission leading to global warming and climate change. In addition, the end-of-life plastics cause plastic pollutions, such as “microplastics”. We have tackled effective solutions for those serious environmental issues from an aspect of polymer materials science.
LAB GALLERY
Schedule
2026.6.17-18 At the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Society of Fiber Science and Technology, Japan, Professor Ikuo Taniguchi will deliver an oral presentation titled “Pressure Plasticization of Poly(L-lactic Acid) by the Addition of Baroplastics.”
In addition, Master’s second-year students Ryo Tanioka, Sota Kakesu, and Tomoki Tanaka will each give oral presentations on the following topics.
Tomoki Tanaka (Master’s second-year student) – June 18
“Correlation Between Structure and Enzymatic Degradability of Degradable Baroplastic Copolymers”
Ryo Tanioka (Master’s second-year student) – June 17
“Pressure Plasticity of Polycarbonate/Polyester Block Copolymers”
Sota Kakesu (Master’s second-year student) – June 17
“Plasticization Mechanism of Polystyrene by Pressure-Responsive Nanoparticles”
2026.6.1 At the 48th Annual Meeting of the Membrane Society of Japan, Master’s second-year student Natsuko Azuma will present a poster titled “Dependence of CO₂ Separation Performance of Amine-Containing Hollow Fiber Membranes on Operating Conditions.”
What's new
2026.5.18 【Media Coverage】Our laboratory’s CO₂ separation membrane (hollow fiber membrane) technology was featured on NHK WORLD-JAPAN’s “Science View.”
The program, under the theme “Hollow Fiber Membranes Filter Vital Resource,” highlighted our laboratory’s research activities and CO₂ separation membrane modules as advanced Japanese technologies contributing to the solution of global social issues.
Program: NHK WORLD-JAPAN “Science View”
Program Website: Official Website of NHK WORLD-JAPAN “Science View”
The program will be available for viewing for one year after the broadcast date.
2026.3.23 Master’s second-year students Takaya Okazaki, Yutaro Shimizu, and Wataru Sakanishi were awarded
their master’s degrees and successfully completed the master’s program. We express our sincere respect for their dedicated research efforts and wish them continued success in their professional careers. We also congratulate Takumi Wada on his undergraduate graduation and look forward to his continued growth and achievements in our laboratory.
2026.3.17-19 At the 91st Annual Meeting of the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan, Master's 1st-year student Masaki Taguchi presented a poster titled “Effect of Hydroxyl Groups on CO₂ Transport Promotion Using Amines,” and Master's 1st-year student Tomoki Tanaka presented a poster titled “Enzymatic Degradability of Pressure-Plastisable Aliphatic Polyester Block Copolymers.”
2026.3.6 At the 25-3 Eco-Material Symposium, first-year master's student Ryo Tanioka presented a poster on “Pressure Plasticity of Degradable Polycarbonate/Polyester Block Copolymers,” and first-year master's student Sota Kakesu presented a poster on “Plasticizing Effect of Polystyrene by Adding Core-Shell Baroplastics.”
2026.1.23 At the 6th Advanced Membrane Engineering Research Promotion Organization Thematic Forum, Professor Ikuo Taniguchi delivered a presentation entitled “CO₂ Separation Using Facilitated Transport Membranes and the Creation of Biomass Plastics.”