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Bio-based plastics

What is a bio-based plastic?

Plastics are polymers (chains of identical smaller molecules called monomers) traditionally produced using petrol as raw source and chemical processes. Bio-based plastics are plastics made (entirely or partially) from renewable resources, often with the help of biotechnology. Bio-based plastics reduce dependency on fossil fuel, and using biotechnology processes, less energy and few resources are consumed and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are reduced.

 

 

What are the advantages of bio-based plastics?

Plastics are one of the most common products in our daily life. They are currently the most used materials worldwide, in packaging material, in building and construction, in the electrical industry, for automotive uses, in furniture, in household goods, or in agriculture.

Depending on the type of polymer, biobased plastics contribute up to a 50% decrease in term of energy consumption and up to 67% savings of CO2 emissions during the production process. In the future, industry expects that less energy will be needed and GHG emissions will fall as the production processes are optimised and new feedstock and more sustainable energy sources will become available.

As an example, polylactic acid or PLA is made from 100% natural feedstock (corn) and its LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) indicates that in applications where it shows the same performance it uses up to 65% less petroleum and release 68% less GHG to the atmosphere than traditional plastic materials.

What is the role of biotechnology?

Biotechnology is driving the production of new bio-based plastics. There are mainly two methods being researched and used to produce plastics from plants. The first uses fermentation and the second relies on the plant to become the factory for plastic production (see).

More information on

Bioplastic on Biobasics
Bioplastic on wikipedia
Biopolymer on wikipedia
Applications of bioplastics
Biopolymer.net