Researchers from the University of Bingemton in the United States under the leadership of Thien Tan Li developed a method to get a biodegradable polymer based on food residues. The work has been published in the Bioresource Technology Magazine.
Instead of using expensive pure sugar and sterile bacteria, as well as in normal biological production, scientists have decided to use regular food waste. They ferment them to lactic acid, and then add ammonium sulfate as a source of nitrogen. The nutritional environment that results is giving Cupriavidus Necator bacteria, producing polyhydroxiacanoate) is a substance that they use to store energy. Up to 90% of the obtained phase can be assembled and used to produce packaging and other products.
The researchers have also checked the process of stability: It turns out that food waste can be stored for a week without fear of quality decline and composition of the mixture that may change – it is important to observe the rate. That is, this technology is quite suitable for large -scale use. The group plans to use solid residues after fermentation as organic fertilizer.
Professor Sha Jing said that today, food waste from the table was transferred to animal feed, Professor Sha Jing said. But we think: What happens if you can make plastic from them? This direction is almost no research, and we decided to make up for this distance. “
The next step is to expand the scale of technology and find an industrial partner. If the experiment can be repeated under practical conditions, this technology can become a strong weapon in the fight against plastic and waste.