SCIENCE AT THE EDGE SEMINAR

A NEW GENERATION OF SUSTAINABLE BIOBASED MATERIALS

Ramani Narayan
Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
Michigan State University
http://www.msu.edu/user/narayan/ & http://gaea.bch.msu.edu/~sinas/

Friday, November 2                    Room 1208 Engineering Bldg.
Begins at 11:30 a.m.                  Refreshments served at 11:15 a.m.

Sustainability, industrial ecology, and green chemistry are new 
principles that are guiding the development of the next generation of 
materials, products and processes. Thus, new materials and concepts have
to be designed and engineered from cradle to grave incorporating a 
holistic "life cycle thinking" approach.  The impact of raw material 
resources used in the manufacturing process and the ultimate fate 
(disposal) of the material when it enters the waste stream has to be 
factored into the design of the product. The use of annually renewable 
resources and the biodegradability or recyclability of the product is 
becoming an important design criterion.

Designing products to be biodegradable and ensuring that they end up in
an appropriate disposal system, which would utilize the biodegradability
functionality, is environmentally and ecologically sound. For example, we
can generate much-needed carbon-rich compost (humic material) by 
composting our biodegradable plastic packaging and paper waste along with 
other organic compostable materials like yard, food, and agricultural 
wastes. Compost amended soil has beneficial effects by increasing soil 
organic carbon, increasing water and nutrient retention, reducing 
chemical inputs, and suppress plant diseases. Composting is important 
for sustainable agriculture practices.

Biodegradable plastics and biobased polymer products based on annually
renewable agricultural and biomass feedstocks can form the basis for a
portfolio of sustainable, ecoefficient products that can compete and
capture markets currently dominated by products based exclusively on
petroleum feedstocks. Two basic routes are possible. Direct extraction 
from biomass yields a series of natural polymer materials (cellulose, 
starch, proteins), fibers, and vegetable oils that can form the platform 
on which polymer materials and products can be developed. Alternatively, 
the renewable resources/biomass feedstock can be converted to 
bio-monomers by fermentation or hydrolysis and then further converted by 
chemical synthesis to biodegradable polymers like polylactic acid. 
Bio-monomers can also be microbially transformed to biopolymers like the 
polyhydroxyalkanoates. Surfactants, detergents, adhesives, and 
water-soluble polymers can be engineered from biomass feedstocks.

Starch based thermoplastic technologies using water or other polyhydric
alcohols have been developed.  One of the successful market entries is in
loose-fill packaging as a substitute for polystyrene foam and has captured
20% of the U.S. market. Another innovative application for these starch
foam materials is in toys, arts & crafts markets. Starch esters, and
thermoplastic starch-polyester blends are also being commercialized for
packaging and other single-use applications. Poly(lactic acid) from corn 
is a successful new product from Cargill-Dow based on technology developed
at MSU, which emphasizes sustainability and renewable resources as its 
major features in addition to cost and performance.

These and other emerging biobased materials technologies will be presented,
focusing primarily on our work in this area.