New PET-like plastic made from waste biomass

Moving away from fossil fuels and avoiding the buildup of plastic in the environment is key to tackling the challenge of climate change
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Recently, researchers under the leadership of Professor Jeremy Luterbach of the Faculty of Basic Sciences of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have developed a biomass-derived plastic similar to PET (polyethylene terephthalate).
Compliant to replace several existing plastics while also being more environmentally friendly
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Traditional plastics are so widespread because they combine many advantages such as low cost, thermal stability, mechanical strength, processability and compatibility
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Any plastic alternative must match or exceed these advantages, a task that has always been challenging
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"We're basically just 'cooking' wood or other inedible plant material, such as agricultural waste, with cheap chemicals to produce plastic precursors in one step," Luterbach said
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Maintaining the integrity of the sugar structure, the chemical method is much simpler than the way plastic alternatives are currently produced
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The technique is based on a 2016 discovery by Luterbach and colleagues that adding an aldehyde stabilizes parts of the plant material and avoids damaging them during extraction
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By repurposing this chemical, the researchers were able to recreate a new useful biobased chemical as a plastic precursor
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"By using a different aldehyde - glyoxylic acid rather than formaldehyde - we can simply sandwich the sugar molecule with a 'sticky' group, so that They act as the building blocks of plastic
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" This simple technique can convert up to 25 percent of agricultural waste or 95 percent of pure sugar into plastic
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The versatile properties of new plastics allow them to be used in a variety of applications such as packaging, textiles, medicine, electronics, and more
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Researchers have made packaging films, fibers that can be made into clothing or other textiles, and filaments for 3D printing
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"This plastic has very exciting properties, especially in applications such as food packaging
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" What makes it unique is the presence of a complete sugar structure, which makes the plastic very easy to manufacture and easy to manufacture, says Luterbach.
degrade
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