Scale up and Optimization of the Production Process of Plantee's pH Sensitive Polymer for Fishing Gear Material

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According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, millions of metric tons of plastic end up in the world's oceans, lakes and rivers each year. A major contributor to marine debris is lost and abandoned fishing gear - one of the deadliest forms of plastic debris, with damaging impacts on marine animals like whales and turtles, the coastal and marine environment, and global fishing stocks. Through the use of bioplastics, Plantee Bioplastics Inc., a sustainable chemistry startup based in Kingston, Ontario, is developing sustainable, drop-in solutions for these issues which can be applied at the manufacturing stage. Plantee believes that their proprietary technology is a viable solution and have developed a pH-sensitive polymer that degrades into CO2 and H2O rapidly when exposed to pH beyond a certain engineered threshold. To progress from bench-scale research to pilot-scale production, by optimizing processing conditions for pilot-scale production, Plantee requires the kg/h-scale extruder within the polymer processing labs at Lambton College, with available capacity and trained technical personnel to operate it. The overall goal of the project is to scale up Plantee's process to the kg/h scale and testing the bioplastic for durability and breakdown to ensure both usability breakdown at the right conditions. Success of the project will enable the development of a novel technology to allow Plantee to create a polymner for fishing gear that is both biodegradable and durable. Plantee will benefit from the scientific and technical advances arising from this collaboration in order to scale up production and move up to full production and validation. This is relevant because the company will prove the technology and be ready for commercialization and marketing for sales. The technology will also place Canada on the cutting edge of sustainable chemistry technology, as well as enabling the expansion of the fisheries industry without impacting the environment.