Successful extraction of degradable polymers from plants

At present, almost all plastic products are from petroleum products, and can not be degraded, which will cause great harm to the environment Scientists from metabolix, Massachusetts, have developed a new method to obtain biodegradable polymers directly from plants, according to the website of MIT Technology Review The researchers said that this method of using "plastic grass" to produce degradable polymer not only saves energy and environmental protection, but also costs less than half of the current ordinary degradable polymer, which has great market potential The company's researchers genetically engineered switchgrass, a Native American herb, from which biodegradable polymers can be extracted directly At present, many enterprises, including metabolix company, are selling similar polymer materials, but most of them are synthesized by bacteria rather than using plants that can be planted on a large scale, so the cost is high The switchgrass used in this study is a kind of "energy grass", which has the characteristics of drought resistance, salt tolerance, barren tolerance and strong adaptability The planting management is simple It can be planted in arid and semi-arid areas, low-lying and waterlogging prone areas, saline alkali areas, and barren mountainous and semi-mountainous areas The company estimates that the final price of the polymer may be less than half of the current average polymer, due to fewer equipment and lower costs In view of the wide market demand for degradable plastic packaging products in the terminal retail industry, if the product can be promoted on a large scale, its cost will be further reduced Oliver pipas, metabolix's chief science officer, is a big fan of the technology He had previously worked at MIT, where he and his colleague Anthony hinsky, a professor of biology at MIT, had studied the field for more than 20 years and found a way to produce a biodegradable polymer material, polyhydroxyalkylate (PHA), using bacteria After that, the two founded metabolix company, and spent 10 years to optimize technology, improve production and reduce costs Compared with bacterial synthesis, the plant synthesis method with long growth process will be more complex and time-consuming, pipas said At present, the company's scientists are using genetic engineering technology to genetically modify plants, including switchgrass, flax and sugarcane, to regulate their growth process In switchgrass's research, they enabled it to produce and store a substance called poly - β - hydroxybutyric acid (PHB) PHB has good biocompatibility and can be made into biodegradable and non-toxic medical plastic utensils and surgical needles and sutures The researchers also developed methods to extract PHB through chemical processes and to convert PHB to butylenic acid Pipas said that the production process will still generate some carbon emissions because of the need for fertilizer and fuel driven machines in planting and harvesting, but compared with other production synthesis methods, this method has less emissions and is more environmentally friendly.