{"id":112201,"date":"2022-07-08T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T05:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=112201"},"modified":"2022-07-05T11:12:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T09:12:03","slug":"new-pet-like-plastic-made-directly-from-waste-biomass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/new-pet-like-plastic-made-directly-from-waste-biomass\/","title":{"rendered":"New PET-like plastic made directly from waste biomass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"\"
A 3D-printed \u201cleaf\u201d made with the new bioplastic. \u00a9<\/strong>Alain Herzog (EPFL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It is becoming increasingly obvious that moving away from fossil fuels and avoiding the accumulation of plastics in the environment are key to addressing the challenge of climate change. In that vein, there are considerable efforts to develop degradable or recyclable polymers made from non-edible plant material referred to as \u201clignocellulosic biomass\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Highly
Highly transparent and flexible strand of the bioplastic. \u00a9<\/strong>Lorenz Manker (EPFL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Of course, producing competitive biomass-based plastics is not straightforward. There is a reason that conventional plastics are so widespread, as they combine low cost, heat stability, mechanical strength, processability, and compatibility \u2013 features that any alternative plastic replacements must match or surpass. And so far, the task has been challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until now, that is. Scientists led by Professor Jeremy Luterbacher at EPFL\u2019s School of Basic Sciences have successfully developed a biomass-derived plastic, similar to PET, that meets the criteria for replacing several current plastics while also being more environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe essentially just \u2018cook\u2019 wood or other non-edible plant material, such as agricultural wastes, in inexpensive chemicals to produce the plastic precursor in one step,\u201d says Luterbacher<\/strong>. \u201cBy keeping the sugar structure intact within the molecular structure of the plastic, the chemistry is much simpler than current alternatives.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The technique is based on a discovery that Luterbacher and his colleagues published in 2016<\/a>, where adding an aldehyde could stabilize certain fractions of plant material and avoid their destruction during extraction. By repurposing this chemistry, the researchers were able to rebuild a new useful bio-based chemical as a plastic precursor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Processing
Processing of the bioplastic by extrusion to make fibers for 3D-printing. \u00a9<\/strong>Maxime Hedou (EPFL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy using a different aldehyde \u2013 glyoxylic acid instead of formaldehyde \u2013 we could simply clip \u2018sticky\u2019 groups onto both sides of the sugar molecules, which then allows them to act as plastic building blocks,\u201d says Lorenz Manker<\/strong>, the study\u2019s first author. \u201cBy using this simple technique, we are able to convert up to 25% of the weight of agricultural waste, or 95% of purified sugar, into plastic.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"Lorenz
Lorenz Manker, the study’s lead author, holding a 3D-printed EPFL logo made with the bioplastic. \u00a9Stefania Bertella (EPFL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The well-rounded properties of these plastics could allow them to be used in applications ranging from packaging and textiles to medicine and electronics. The researchers have already made packaging films, fibers that could be spun into clothing or other textiles, and filaments for 3D-printing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plastic has very exciting properties, notably for applications like food packaging,\u201d says Luterbacher<\/strong>. \u201cAnd what makes the plastic unique is the presence of the intact sugar structure. This makes it incredibly easy to make because you don\u2019t have to modify what nature gives you, and simple to degrade because it can go back to a molecule that is already abundant in nature.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

References<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Lorenz P. Manker, Graham R. Dick, Adrien Demongeot, Maxime A. Hedou, Christ\u00e8le Rayroud, Thibault Rambert, Marie J. Jones, Irina Sulaeva, Yves Leterrier, Antje Potthast, Fran\u00e7ois Marechal, Veronique Michaud, Harm-Anton Klok, and Jeremy S. Luterbacher. Sustainable polyesters via direct functionalization of lignocellulosic sugars. Nature Chemistry 23 June 2022. DOI:\u00a010.1038\/s41557-022-00974-5<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is becoming increasingly obvious that moving away from fossil fuels and avoiding the accumulation of plastics in the environment are key to addressing the challenge of climate change. In that vein, there are considerable efforts to develop degradable or recyclable polymers made from non-edible plant material referred to as \u201clignocellulosic biomass\u201d. Of course, producing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"EPFL scientists have developed a new, PET-like plastic that is easily made from the non-edible parts of plants. The plastic is tough, heat-resistant, and a good barrier to gases like oxygen, making it a promising candidate for food packaging. Due to its structure, the new plastic can also be chemically recycled and degrade back to harmless sugars in the environment","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10588,5838,5842,10416,12690,14007,11966],"supplier":[335],"class_list":["post-112201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-3dprinting","tag-bioeconomy","tag-biomass","tag-circulareconomy","tag-lignocellulosics","tag-pet","tag-plastics","supplier-ecole-polytechnique-fdrale-de-lausanne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112201"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=112201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}