#biopolymers

Turning table scraps into biodegradable, single-use plastics

Researchers are using bacteria that eat food scraps to create a new kind of fully biodegradable plastic that reduces waste and could be less expensive to manufacture than current plastics are. The team from the University of Waterloo says this new method produces plastics that are soft and flexible, leading to many potential applications such as food wrap, drug delivery and in the repair of damaged tissues and organs. The study, "Production and Characterization of Biopolymer from Food Waste Using Pseudomonas putida," was recently published in ACS ES&T Engineering. "Using food waste as food for bacteria which can produce bioplastics is a very exciting development," said Dr. Trevor Charles, a professor in the Department of Biology at Waterloo, and one of the authors of the study. "This approach is significant because it has the possibility to reduce the cost of creating biopolymers."

“Segundo Sol”

The transparent hull made of microalgae-based biopolymer mimics the water, almost invisible. It looks and is part of the sea, like its waves and sea creatures. It allows an experience of unity between the sailor and the sea, a bond that develops into care.

The iconic round sail stays in the sky like another sun. Internal structure and fabric is made with plastic taken from the oceans: what once polluted it, now helps in its awareness and preservation. Functionally inspired by famous America’s Cup sailboats and circular winged aircrafts, the avant-garde wing-shaped sail turns and curves to increase or decrease thrust.

An iconic sailboat developed with the hope to bring more light and boldness to design a more conscious future.

“TERA” Eco-Retreat, Upstate New York,

AI Space Factory

TERA is built from a 3D-printed biopolymer basalt composite –a material developed from crops like corn and sugar cane – tested and validated by NASA to be (at minimum) 50% stronger and more durable than concrete.

If civilizations are remembered for what they leave behind, our time might be labeled the Plastic Age. Plastic can endure for centuries. It's everywhere, even in our clothes, from polyester leisure suits to fleece jackets.

A Silicon Valley startup is trying to get the plastic out of clothing and put something else in: biopolymers.

A polymer is a long-chain molecule made of lots of identical units. Polymers are durable and often elastic. Plastic is a polymer made from petroleum products. But biopolymers occur often in nature — cellulose in wood or silk from silkworms — and unlike plastic, they can be broken down into natural materials.

Molly Morse manufactures biopolymers that she hopes will replace some kinds of plastic. She runs a small company called Mango Materials. Mango is her favorite fruit, and she wanted her company to sound different from other tech enterprises in the San Francisco Bay Area. "We're not your typical Silicon Valley startup company," Morse says. "We're manufacturing polymers at a waste-water treatment plant. We're not a bunch of guys in a garage coding."

How did she end up making bioplastic at a sewage treatment plant?

Scientists find key to engineering water-responsive biopolymers

Scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have developed a novel approach to better understand and predict the behaviors of water-responsive materials—solid matter that can change shape by absorbing or releasing water in response to humidity fluctuations. These materials, commonly found in nature, have the potential to revolutionize a range of industries, from robotics and smart textiles to bioelectronics and clean energy generation systems. Despite water-responsive materials' growing popularity in research and development, a gap exists in the theoretical understanding of how these materials generate mechanical stress when they absorb and release water. A research team led by Professor Xi Chen at the CUNY ASRC Nanoscience Initiative and City College of New York's Chemical Engineering Department has pioneered a new quantitative method to correlate the structure of confined water with the macroscopic water-responsive properties of materials like silk.

Citrus waste converted to biopolymers using cavitation

The citrus industry generates a substantial amount of waste, primarily peels and seeds, which are often underutilized despite their rich cellulose and pectin content. Conventional pectin and cellulose extraction methods are energy-intensive and generate harmful by-products. However, a recent study introduces a novel, green approach using cavitation, a process that uses sound waves to create bubbles in liquid, offering a sustainable and efficient alternative. The research team applied both hydrodynamic and acoustic cavitation techniques to convert citrus waste into "CytroCell," a micronized cellulose, and "IntegroPectin," a highly bioactive pectin. This process, termed "CytroCav," requires only water and electricity, operates at room temperature, and is completed in a single step, making it an exemplary circular economy practice. The findings are published in the Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts.