Scientists develop way to make biodegradable plastic cheaper

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A way of producing biodegradable plastic cheaper that could lead to it becoming more widespread.

Scientists at the KU Leuven Centre for Surface Chemistry and Cataysis have produced a new method to create the bioplastic known as polylactic acid (PLA).

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PLA is derived from renewable sources such as the sugar in maize and sugarcane.

Fermentation turns the sugar into lactic acid, which in turn is a building block for PLA.

In certain environments, PLA degrades after a number of years, but if it is collected and sorted correctly, it is both industrially compostable and recyclable.

But PLA has not become an alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics due to its cost.

KU Leuven Professor Bert Sels said: “First, lactic acid is fed into a reactor and converted into a type of pre-plastic under high temperature and in a vacuum.

“This is an expensive process. The pre-plastic – a low quality plastic – is then broken down into building blocks for PLA.

 “In other words, you are first producing an inferior plastic before you end up with a high-quality plastic. And even though PLA is considered a green plastic, the various intermediary steps in the production process still require metals and produce waste.”

The scientists have developed a new technique use a porous material known as a zeolite as a catalyst in the process. This process converts lactic acid directly into the building blocks for PLA without making the larger by-products.

This means the process is cheaper, there is less waste, and metals do not need to be used.

A chemical company has already bought the patent on the process and intends to roll out production on an industrial scale.

The findings were first published in the journal Science.