Industry news
Civilian! The production cost of biodegradable plastics is expected to be reduced by half
Release time：2018-1-8 15:36:00
Author：admin
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Bioplastics, i.e. PHA (polyhydroxy fatty acid ester), have similar material properties to traditional petrochemical plastics, which can play an alternative role in more than 50% of the application fields of petroleum based plastics, and can be completely used to make plastic bags, plastic tableware, plastic bottles and so on.
More importantly, bioplastics degrade quickly, and can be degraded in the soil within 3-6 months. At the same time, other microorganisms can reproduce faster after eating this bioplastics, making the land more fertile.
However, at present, only polyethylene and polypropylene, the two most common petroleum based plastics in the world, have an annual production capacity of 130-140 million tons. PHA's annual production capacity is only about 50000 tons, and the output is only a fraction of petroleum based plastics.
The key reason is cost. Plastic is too cheap, the production process is too mature, and the use is too large. According to analysis, the price of bioplastics (PHA) produced by the current process is about 3 to 10 times that of ordinary polyethylene and polypropylene.
Therefore, in order to popularize bioplastics, we must reduce the cost, that is, "how to fatten certain microorganisms cheaply".
Chen Guoqiang, a distinguished professor of "School of life sciences" and "Changjiang Scholar" of Tsinghua University, led a young team to find suitable and nourishing strains, and used the emerging "synthetic biology" technology to reconstruct the PHA production process, so as to reduce the total production cost by half compared with the existing technology, leading the world.
At present, they have successfully completed the 8-month industrialization pilot test of new bioplastics technology, and will start mass production of 50000-100000 tons in 2018.
At present, PHA granules have been applied to degradable agricultural films, disposable wood flour blending and pure PHA tableware, color 3D printed silk, electrospun fibers, shopping bags and other end products:
PHA is also found to have good medical value and good biocompatibility. P4hb in PHA has been approved for clinical use in the United States as a surgical suture and is expected to be used for the development of cartilage repair materials, nerve catheters, artificial esophagus, etc.
More importantly, bioplastics degrade quickly, and can be degraded in the soil within 3-6 months. At the same time, other microorganisms can reproduce faster after eating this bioplastics, making the land more fertile.
However, at present, only polyethylene and polypropylene, the two most common petroleum based plastics in the world, have an annual production capacity of 130-140 million tons. PHA's annual production capacity is only about 50000 tons, and the output is only a fraction of petroleum based plastics.
The key reason is cost. Plastic is too cheap, the production process is too mature, and the use is too large. According to analysis, the price of bioplastics (PHA) produced by the current process is about 3 to 10 times that of ordinary polyethylene and polypropylene.
Therefore, in order to popularize bioplastics, we must reduce the cost, that is, "how to fatten certain microorganisms cheaply".
Chen Guoqiang, a distinguished professor of "School of life sciences" and "Changjiang Scholar" of Tsinghua University, led a young team to find suitable and nourishing strains, and used the emerging "synthetic biology" technology to reconstruct the PHA production process, so as to reduce the total production cost by half compared with the existing technology, leading the world.
At present, they have successfully completed the 8-month industrialization pilot test of new bioplastics technology, and will start mass production of 50000-100000 tons in 2018.
At present, PHA granules have been applied to degradable agricultural films, disposable wood flour blending and pure PHA tableware, color 3D printed silk, electrospun fibers, shopping bags and other end products:
PHA is also found to have good medical value and good biocompatibility. P4hb in PHA has been approved for clinical use in the United States as a surgical suture and is expected to be used for the development of cartilage repair materials, nerve catheters, artificial esophagus, etc.
