Japan: they create biodegradable plastic suitable for large-scale industrial production

Japanese researchers have developed a type of plastic of biological origin suitable for large-scale industrial production and capable of biodegrading quickly, according to those responsible for the project, who present it as an alternative ‘green’ to the synthetic material.

The team of scientists from Kobe University (west) describes the new compound as “more processable, more resistant to fractures and highly biodegradable, even in seawater”, compared to other plastics of biological origin, in a statement published this Wednesday.

The material, created through genetically modified bacteria, can be “adjusted and produced on an industrial scale” and “has great potential for the plastics industry to go ‘green’”, the aforementioned university noted in the note.

It is a polymer created with polylactic acid, a compound derived from sugar cane or corn, and mixed with another bioplastic known as LAHB. The second reinforces the malleability, resistance and solubility properties of the first, but is very difficult to produce on a large scale.

The team led by Seiichi Taguchi has used “a plastic bacteria factory” based on these microorganisms whose genomes have been manipulated to produce LAHB on a large scale and that feed only on glucose, as explained in an article also published by the American scientific journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

“The resulting transparent plastic is much more malleable and resistant than pure polylactic acid, as well as biodegradable in seawater within a week”says the note from Kobe University.

Japanese scientists also believe that the bacteria used in this process, which can feed on carbon dioxide, “could synthesize useful plastics directly from greenhouse emissions.”

The technique of “sustainable bioengineering” to improve the properties of plastics of organic origin “could, therefore, also contribute to the reduction of C02″, highlights Taguchi.

The Japanese Executive, which has financed this project in which the Japanese company Kaneka Corporation and the National Institute of Advanced Sciences and Technologies also collaborate, has set the goal of increasing the use of bioplastics by 2030.

Japan is one of the countries that produces the most plastic waste worldwide and, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2022 there were about 30 million tons of this type of garbage in the planet’s oceans.

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