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

根据加拿大渔业和海洋部的数据，每年有数百万吨塑料最终进入世界海洋、湖泊和河流。海洋废弃物的一个主要来源是丢失和遗弃的渔具--这是最致命的塑料废弃物之一，对鲸鱼和海龟等海洋动物、沿海和海洋环境以及全球渔业资源造成破坏性影响。 通过使用生物塑料，Plantee生物塑料公司，位于安大略金斯顿的一家可持续化学创业公司正在为这些问题开发可应用于制造阶段的可持续、直接解决方案。Plantee认为他们的专有技术是一种可行的解决方案，并开发了一种pH敏感的聚合物，当暴露于超过一定工程阈值的pH值时，该聚合物会迅速降解为CO2和H2O。 为了从实验室规模研究进展到中试规模生产，通过优化中试规模生产的加工条件，Plantee需要兰顿学院聚合物加工实验室内的kg/h规模挤出机，该项目的总体目标是将Plantee的工艺规模扩大到公斤/吨。h规模和测试生物塑料的耐久性和击穿，以确保在正确的条件下的可用性击穿。 该项目的成功将有助于开发一种新技术，使Plantee能够为渔具创造一种既可生物降解又耐用的聚合物。Plantee将受益于此次合作所带来的科学和技术进步，以扩大生产规模并实现全面生产和验证。这是相关的，因为该公司将证明该技术，并准备商业化和营销销售。该技术还将使加拿大处于可持续化学技术的最前沿，并使渔业在不影响环境的情况下扩大。

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.