Research and application to protect the environment.

Environmental issues such as climate change and deforestation due to the explosion of the human population are becoming increasingly severe worldwide; in particular, plastic pollution produces adverse effects, especially for the marine environment. Some scientific studies have reported that microplastics and nanoplastics are already present in the human body as a result of breathing air. Therefore, recycling of plastic, reduction of plastic use, and use and development of biodegradable plastic have been intensively challenged and performed.

“Thermoplastic resin” is the precise technical term for plastic, which is defined as a synthetic material that can be molded into any shape for actual use by high-temperature molding using a molding machine. To perform molding, the plastic needs to be in the form of a “resin pellet” with a size of 1–3 mm.

The production and use of biodegradable plastic is slowly increasing, although greater than 98% of plastics worldwide are still petroleum-based non-biodegradable plastics. In addition, the production of this petroleum-based non-biodegradable plastics are still increasing regardless of these plastic pollution problems. Therefore, plastic pollution is worsening each year.

Biodegradable plastics are composed of either petroleum or biomass such as corn, sugarcane, potato, and grains. However, this might be a problem as such biomass is also used as food for human nutrition. As non-edible biomass, cellulose-based biodegradable plastics can be a good alternative, although the preparation of cellulose-based resins with good properties requires the use of petroleum-based additives.    Read more…

First 100% Natural Biomass-Based Biodegradable Thermoplastic Material