Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne: waste biomass made into new PET-like plastic
Moving away from fossil fuels and avoiding the buildup of plastics in the environment is key to meeting the challenges of climate change. 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.
Traditional plastics are so widespread because they combine many advantages such as low cost, thermal stability, mechanical strength, processability and compatibility. Any plastic alternative must match or exceed these advantages, a task that has always been challenging.
"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. Maintaining the integrity of the sugar structure, the chemical method is much simpler than the way plastic alternatives are currently produced.
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. By repurposing this chemical, the researchers were able to recreate a new useful biobased chemical as a plastic precursor. "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." This simple technique can convert up to 25 percent of agricultural waste or 95 percent of pure sugar into plastic.
The versatile properties of new plastics allow them to be used in a variety of applications such as packaging, textiles, medicine, electronics, and more. Researchers have made packaging films, fibers that can be made into clothing or other textiles, and filaments for 3D printing. "
This plastic has very exciting properties, especially in applications such as food packaging." 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. degradation.
