{"id":23249,"date":"2024-03-18T14:16:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T13:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ggba.swiss\/?p=23249"},"modified":"2024-03-18T14:16:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T13:16:43","slug":"epfl-develops-sustainable-plastics-from-agricultural-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ggba.swiss\/en\/epfl-develops-sustainable-plastics-from-agricultural-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"EPFL develops sustainable plastics from agricultural waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In today&#8217;s fast-paced industrial landscape, the search for eco-friendly materials is increasingly critical. Plastics, which are omnipresent in our everyday lives, present significant environmental issues, largely stemming from their fossil fuel-based production and difficult disposal processes.Haut du formulaire<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epfl.ch\/en\/\">EPFL<\/a>\u2019s pioneering research, led by Jeremy Luterbacher&#8217;s team and published in <em>Nature Sustainability<\/em>, focuses on converting biomass leftovers into polyamides\u2014strong, durable plastics best known through nylons. Utilizing a sugar core extracted from agricultural residues, this method presents an eco-friendly solution to rigidify plastics while maintaining their performance qualities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTypical, fossil-based plastics require aromatic groups for rigidity, which grants them properties like hardness and high temperature resistance,\u201d explains Luterbacher. \u201cOur approach achieves similar results using a sugar structure, a naturally abundant and non-toxic resource.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team, including lead author Lorenz Manker, has developed a catalyst-free process that transforms dimethyl glyoxylate xylose, derived from wood or corn cobs, into premium polyamides with a remarkable atom efficiency of 97%. This high efficiency ensures minimal waste, marking a substantial improvement over traditional plastic production methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A new era in material science<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The resulting bio-based polyamides rival the properties of their fossil fuel-based counterparts, making them suitable for a wide range of applications, from automotive components to consumer goods. Notably, these materials have shown remarkable resilience in mechanical recycling trials, maintaining their integrity and performance across multiple cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Preliminary assessments indicate that these sustainable polyamides could be priced competitively against standard polyamides, such as nylon 66, while significantly reducing the global warming potential by up to 75%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The venture to commercialize these materials is already underway, with Fribourg-based Bloom Biorenewables scaling production to introduce these sustainable plastics to the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This endeavor is supported by collaborators from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hes-so.ch\/en\/homepage\">HES-SO<\/a>, the EPFL Institute of Materials, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epfl.ch\/about\/campus\/valais-en\/\">EPFL Valais-Wallis<\/a>, and The University of Manchester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EPFL scientists have introduced a novel method for producing high-performance plastics from agricultural waste, offering a greener alternative to traditional materials derived from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[832],"tags":[943,913,949,958,937,899],"class_list":["post-23249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agrifood","tag-advanced-manufacturing","tag-agritech","tag-education-en","tag-foodtech","tag-materials","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>EPFL develops sustainable plastics from agricultural waste | GGBa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EPFL scientists have introduced a novel method for producing 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