Making bioplastics more degradable under UV-light

News- In the project ULTRADREAM (funded by TKI-AF), which started in the summer of 2023, Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR – Wageningen, the Netherlands) is supporting the development of the circular economy by using agricultural side streams and residues for developing novel modified biobased, renewable polymers, with inherent biodegradation capabilities at their end-of-life.

The WFBR approach is to test the possibilities of incorporating specific bio-derived monomers into polymers to increase their biodegradation by exposure to UV-light. If successful, this approach will prevent accumulation and persistence of these polymers at the end of their useful life. “Recent research findings at our organization have shown that some specific carbohydrate derived building blocks are sensitive to degradation under UV irradiation. Incorporating such building blocks into the original polymer structure could therefore increase the biodegradation capability of the obtained polymers upon exposure to sunlight/ UV-irradiation. These polymers could be used in packaging, agricultural mulching films, or decorative and paper coatings”, project leader Ghazal Tavakoli explains.

Both the photo labile monomers used to incorporate into the polymers and the original polymers themselves, come from agricultural side streams. Tavakoli: “We convert low value non-food residues to high added value functional products. This way we develop new classes of bio-renewable, biodegradable materials with an improved circular potential. Our team is a combination of chemists and material and process engineers. That way, we can instantly confirm whether what we’ve developed in the lab also works in practice. Making the outcomes a solution everyone can benefit from immediately”.

Ref: www.bioplasticsmagazine.com

05.01.2024

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