BioPlastics, New Innovations

When making a list of the most promising innovations, the waste may be set aside to become the first topic that comes to mind, even the object of jokes. one of the companies have found ways to use waste to reduce the environmental impact of human and oil dependency.

Wastewater treatment plants can replace petroleum used each year to make plastic packaging.

You’ve probably never given a lot of thought to what happens to wastewater, but it’s a major environmental issue. Municipal water treatment plants nationwide process more than 150 million gallons of wastewater every day. When the treated water is released into a river or ocean, it leaves behind more than four million tons of sludge, mostly burned or trucked away to landfills. That’s a lot of waste, and it’s expensive, costing as much as $200 million annually.

That’s where Micromidas comes in. They’ve figured out how to convert sludge into a usable product. “Literally, we are brewing plastic,” said John Bissel, Micromidas CEO. “It’s very similar to brewing beer or anything else.” It’s been known for a while that a chemical in wastewater can be used to make plastic, but the challenge has always been extracting and converting it at a competitive price compared to the source of most of America’s plastic – oil.

The breakthrough lies in Micromidas’ proprietary process. The company takes sludge, renders it down to a liquid resembling chicken broth, and applies a cocktail of designer bacteria microbes. The chemical reactions that follow change the liquid’s composition into a thicker product, which is then run through an extruding machine, producing plastic.

If the idea catches on, it could mean big business. Nearly five percent of the oil consumed in America, about 300 million barrels a year, goes into making plastic products like shopping bags and water bottles. Combined with reducing costs for wastewater treatment and the impact of sludge being transported and buried at landfills, plastic from sewage makes sense. “Taking wastewater sludge and turning it into a bioplastic is pretty nice,” said Michael Donahue, Sacramento Water Treatment Plant. “It’s a pretty good idea.”

Even so, there’s still one hurdle to clear – the stigma of plastic from poop. But don’t worry; their product will never become water bottles. “Realistically, we’re looking for tertiary packaging applications,” said Bissel. Tertiary refers to third-level packaging, like the layer of plastic surrounding a DVD player, the rings surrounding packs of bottles, or the wrap that secures products on pallets at big box stores around the country.

Other bioplastics are already on the market, but they're derived from plants and are generally more expensive than oil-based plastic. These products require land, fertilizer, and water. By comparison, Bissel says all his technology requires is a laboratory and ingredients unlikely to run out any time soon.

Micromidas’ product will hit markets next year, so we’ll soon find out if sustainable plastic stinks, or if it can come out smelling like roses.
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UNAIR Students Create Environmentally Friendly Plastics

Who said plastic will biodegrade in the soil long? Humaira, a student majoring in Chemistry Faculty of Science and Technology University of Airlangga (Airlangga University), Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, has denied this. Tuesday (20 / 7), 21-year-old woman was announcing the results of his research, eco-friendly plastic that is easily decomposed by soil within a week.

According Humaira, this is done because the plastic has been used often cause environmental pollution due to garbage piling on too long, so prone to flooding. "Plastics are typically pile up and pollute the environment for years could be degraded or decomposed by the soil only within less than a week," said the girl was born in Jombang.

Humaira explains, is a synthetic plastic food packaging materials that have a negative impact on the environment and human health. That comes from the synthesis of materials such as cellulose acetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polyester, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinyl acetate and aluminum foil. While plastics made from these materials are nonbiodegradable or can not be explained naturally by microorganisms in the soil.

Not only that, typically of synthetic plastics material added softener (plasticizer) that is not rigid and not easily fragile. This softener material consisted mostly of groups phthalate compounds (esters derived from phthalic acid). "In fact, the use of DEHA plasticizer such as PCBs and can cause tissue death and is carcinogenic in humans," said Humaira.

Humaira research provides a breakthrough alternative to this time through the development of biodegradable plastics are easily degraded by microorganisms in the soil and renewable resources. The materials used for the manufacture of biodegradable plastics include starches aloe vera, chitosan, with glycerol as a plasticizer.

"Aloe vera contains polysaccharides that can form a layer of plastic film which has antibacterial properties. While chitosan containing proteins to strengthen the mechanical properties or strength of plastics, as well as glycerol as a plasticizer in an environmentally safe to give flexibility or elasticity in the plastic," said Humaira. That is why, from the aloe vera biodegradable plastics has advantages, which are antibacterial and easily degraded by microorganisms in the soil.

Humaira also said plastics from starch and aloe vera-chitosan prepared by chitosan concentration of three percent, four percent, five percent, six percent and seven percent (w / v). Meanwhile, aloe vera and glycerol concentration is fixed which is five percent (w / v) and 10 milliliters.

About the method, Humaira explained, the methods used in the synthesis of plastics from Aloe vera-chitosan, which is inverse phase with the solvent evaporates at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. "For this characterization, including measurement of thickness of plastic, test the mechanical properties, swelling test, determination of morphology, and test the properties of biodegradable," Humaira explained.

From the research, obtained value attractiveness percentage elongation and modulus of plastic film on the optimal composition of chitosan, starch, aloe vera and five per cent compared to seven percent (w / v), which is 461.538 MPa, respectively, 6.2 percent, and 744.416 MPa. "The percentage of swelling (swelling), the optimum was obtained at the composition of plastic between the starch-chitosan aloe five percent compared to four percent (w / v), with a value of 12.5 percent. In addition, based on Scanning Electron Microscopy results (SEM) produced morphological The flat plastic film and not hollow, "said Humaira. Thus, in a test of biodegradable plastics from Aloe vera-chitosan using EM4 bacteria showed that the degradation of plastic film in just one week.

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