biodegradable plastic
Date: August 20, 2014
Source: American Chemical Society
Summary: Your chairs, synthetic rugs and plastic bags could one day be made out of cocoa, rice and vegetable waste rather than petroleum, scientists are now reporting. The novel process they developed and their results could help the world deal with its agricultural and plastic waste problems.
Waste husks from rice (in the small vial) can be transformed into bioplastic.
Credit: A. Abrusci – Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Your chairs, synthetic rugs and plastic bags could one day be made out of cocoa, rice and vegetable waste rather than petroleum, scientists are now reporting. The novel process they developed and their results, which could help the world deal with its agricultural and plastic waste problems, appear in the ACS journal Macromolecules.
Athanassia Athanassiou, Ilker S. Bayer and colleagues at the Italian Institute of Technology point out that plastic's popularity is constantly growing. In 2012, its production reached 288 million tons worldwide, but its ubiquity comes at a cost. Synthetic plastics persist for hundreds or thousands of years while releasing toxic components with the potential to harm the environment and human health. Also, plastics are made out of petroleum, which is a nonrenewable source. The shift to more environmentally friendly bioplastics has been challenging and expensive. Athanassiou's team wanted to find a simple, less costly way to make the transition.
They turned to an organic acid that also occurs naturally and can process cellulose, which is the main building component of plants and also the most abundant polymer in nature. They mixed the acid with parsley and spinach stems, and husks from rice and cocoa pods. Then, they poured the resulting solutions into lab dishes.
When tested, the films that formed showed a promising range of traits from brittle and rigid to soft and stretchable -- similar to commercial plastics. "This opens up possibilities for replacing some of the non-degrading polymers with the present bioplastics obtained from agro-waste," the researchers conclude.
Source:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140820110548.htm
- Go! Planet!
Turning waste from rice, parsley and other foods into
- Edge Guerrero
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Turning waste from rice, parsley and other foods into
- I rent this space for advertising
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.
I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
I won't look back I'll fight to remain
- Flying Eye Angle
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Hopefully this idea stays in a safe place for when the majority of the planet gets things straight
Man, all this could have been solved decades ago with HEMP.
You can make all kinds of plastics, bags, etc from HEMP. All kinds of textiles, oil-based materials etc. You can even make a kind of gasoline/fuel from it.
-100% fast renewable
-Grows anywhere
-100% biodegradable
Hemp could save the world and get us off oil but we can't have it because its a 'gateway drug'
You can make all kinds of plastics, bags, etc from HEMP. All kinds of textiles, oil-based materials etc. You can even make a kind of gasoline/fuel from it.
-100% fast renewable
-Grows anywhere
-100% biodegradable
Hemp could save the world and get us off oil but we can't have it because its a 'gateway drug'
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