Taiwanese start-up 100% Plants turns sugarcane byproducts into polymer raw materials that are used to make biodegradable straws, potentially opening new avenues for research into sustainable alternatives for plastic.<\/p>\n
Simple chemical aggregation methods would be sufficient to render sugarcane by-products, or bagasse, into polymer raw materials, which could be used to manufacture biodegradable straws, 100% Plants founder Huang Chien-chung (\u9ec3\u5343\u9418) said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Developing the processes was not without its challenges.<\/p>\n
The first factory that they collaborated with complained that the materials were \u201cunusable,\u201d Huang said, adding that solutions necessitated modifying the factory\u2019s machines.<\/p>\n
After calibrations and tests, a product was produced that would not crack or splinter, even when subjected to temperatures of minus-20\u00b0C, Huang said.<\/p>\n
The company is collaborating with National Taiwan Ocean University to determine the product\u2019s rate of degradation when submerged in ocean water or in fish stomach acid, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that the test results will prove that our product is environmentally friendly,\u201d Huang said.<\/p>\n
The Rural Development Foundation fully supports the start-up\u2019s idea, foundation president Hsieh Chih-cheng (\u8b1d\u5fd7\u8aa0) said, adding that using what would otherwise be considered agricultural waste as a substitute for polyethylene is practical and eco-friendly.<\/p>\n
The start-up is researching using discarded bamboo to manufacture one-time utensils, with a prototype undergoing tests in the US and Australia, he said.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s efforts have attracted the attention of several French tourist destinations, as France\u2019s Energy Transition for Green Growth Act intends to ban plastic plates, cups and utensils by 2020, he added.<\/p>\n
The start-up is in talks with the localities regarding the possibility of turning grape bagasse and barley pulp into useful products, Huang said.<\/p>\n
The start-up has refused offers from more than 20 Chinese companies over the past two months wishing to buy its technology, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do want to make money, but we give an even higher priority to working with the international community as a Taiwanese company,\u201d Huang added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taiwanese start-up 100% Plants turns sugarcane byproducts into polymer raw materials that are used to make biodegradable straws, potentially opening new avenues for research into sustainable alternatives for plastic. Simple chemical aggregation methods would be sufficient to render sugarcane by-products, or bagasse, into polymer raw materials, which could be used to manufacture biodegradable straws, 100% […]<\/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":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10503,14555,14131],"supplier":[13666],"class_list":["post-54634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradable","tag-rawmaterial","tag-sugarcane","supplier-national-taiwan-ocean-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54634","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=54634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54634"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=54634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}