The resulting material shows high mechanical strength, stability when containing liquids and resistance to ultraviolet light. It's a new bioplastic developed using wood by-products, according to a study published in Nature Sustainability.
It can also be safely recycled or biodegraded in the natural environment, and has a lower environmental impact over the life cycle compared to petroleum-based plastics and other biodegradable plastics.
Discarded wood dust
The researchers used a wood dust, a processing residue that is usually discarded as waste at sawmills, and deconstructed the loose, porous structure of the dust with a biodegradable and recyclable deep eutectic solvent (DES).
As explained Yuan Yao, assistant professor of industrial ecology and sustainable systems at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE):
There are many people who have tried to develop these types of polymers into plastic, but mechanical threads are not good enough to replace the plastics we use today, which are mainly made from fossil fuels. We have developed a simple and direct manufacturing process that generates biomass-based plastics from wood, but also plastic that also offers good mechanical properties.
While the process currently uses wood byproducts in manufacturing, the researchers note that they are aware that large-scale production could require the use of massive amounts of wood, which could have far-reaching implications on forests, which is why the research team continues to investigate the potential impact on forests if the manufacturing of this bioplastic is expanded.
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The news
More durable and sustainable bioplastics developed using wood by-products
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.