Plastics from Sugars: The preparation, processing and properties of compostable polymers from lignocellulosic biomass.

“塑料时代”的主导地位如此之大，以至于很难想象没有它们的生活。它们的制造是一个增长型产业，全球年产量超过1.5亿吨。最常用的原料是化石燃料，全球约7%的石油和天然气用于塑料制造。这些资源虽然在技术上是可再生的，但估计将在今后一百年内耗尽。除了石化产品的可持续性和供应问题外，它们的成本也越来越高。废塑料的处理也令人担忧，因为大多数塑料都进入了垃圾填埋场（它们体积庞大，无处不在）；商品塑料的回收利用最近也遭受了经济崩溃。显然需要家用可堆肥塑料，这些塑料来自商品应用（包装）的可再生（但价格低廉）资源。如果这些材料能降解为代谢物，它们在医学上也有很大的应用价值。该提案的重点是来自木质纤维素生物质的碳水化合物的聚合，以获得高度功能化和快速降解的塑料。木质纤维素生物质主要来自非粮食作物，如快速生长的树木（如杨树或柳树）或草（如柳条草）。该提案将使用木质纤维素生物质（即不依赖玉米或甜菜等作物）作为塑料生产的原料。这一点很重要，因为它不会剥夺较贫穷社区的基本粮食作物。具体来说，原料将是d -葡萄糖，一种从纤维素和半纤维素中提取的碳水化合物，它们又占植物质量的55-85%。这类碳水化合物储量丰富、价格低廉、功能化程度高，是化工生产中极具吸引力的原料。与普通石化产品和溶剂相比，它们在成本上也具有竞争力。提案中制备的塑料是100%可降解和可堆肥的，最终它们会在土壤中或体内分解，产生自然产生的副产品。这些新材料的目标是用于各种应用，包括可堆肥包装，特别是它们将促进目前商用可降解塑料的处置和家庭堆肥。此外，新材料的降解将被用于专门的医疗应用。具体来说，我们将研究聚合物作为组织再生支架的使用；这种新材料的关键优势在于它们表现出的不同寻常的物理特性，以及在体内完全降解的能力。该提案将涉及克服新材料广泛生产和使用的关键技术障碍。要开发的新技术包括开发材料的制备、性能、降解概况和最终用途/应用。该提案涉及跨越不同学科的四个学术小组（伦敦帝国理工学院的化学、材料、生物工程和生物学以及诺丁汉大学的化学）和两家公司（Uhde Inventa Fischer和生物陶瓷治疗学）之间的合作。

The 'plastic age' dominates to such an extent that it would be difficult to imagine life without them. Their manufacture is a growth industry with worldwide production exceeding 150 million tons per year. The most commonly used feedstocks are fossil fuels, with around 7% of worldwide oil and gas being consumed in plastics manufacture. Such resources, although technically renewable, are estimated to be depleted in the next hundred years. Aside from the problems with petrochemicals sustainability and supply, they are becoming increasingly costly. The disposal of waste plastics is also of concern as the majority go into landfill (where they are bulky and pervasive); the recycling of commodity plastics has also recently suffered an economic collapse. There is a clear need for home-compostable plastics which derive from renewable (but inexpensive) resources for commodity applications (packaging). Such materials are also of great interest for medical applications, provided they degrade to metabolites. The proposal focuses on the polymerisation of carbohydrates, derived from lignocellulosic biomass, to give highly functionalized and rapidly degradable plastics. Lignocellulosic biomass derives primarily from non-food crops such as fast growing trees (e.g. poplar or willow) or from grasses (e.g. switch grass). This proposal will use lignocellulosic biomass (i.e. it will not rely on crops such as corn or sugar beet) as the feedstock for plastics production. This is important because it will not deprive poorer communities of essential food crops. Specifically, the feedstocks will be D-glucose, a carbohydrate derived from both cellulose and hemicelluloses, which in turn constitute 55-85% of the plant mass. Such carbohydrates are highly attractive feedstocks for chemicals production as they are abundant, inexpensive and highly functionalised. They are also cost competitive with common petrochemicals and solvents. The plastics prepared in the proposal are 100% degradable and compostable, ultimately they are broken down in soil or in the body to give naturally occurring by-products. The new materials are targeted for use in a variety of applications, including being used in compostable packaging, in particular they will facilitate the disposal and home-composting profile of currently commercial degradable plastics. Furthermore, the degradation of the new materials will be exploited for specialized medical applications. Specifically, we will study the use of the polymers as scaffolds in tissue rengeration; the key advantage of the new materials are the unusual physical properties they display and the ability to fully degrade them in the body. The proposal will involve overcoming key technical barriers to the widespread production and use of the new materials. The new technologies to be developed include developing the preparation, properties, degradation profile and end uses/applications of the materials. The proposal involves collaborations between four academic groups across various discplines (Chemistry, Materials, BioEngineering and Biology at Imperial College London and in Chemistry at Nottingham University) and with two companies (Uhde Inventa Fischer and Bioceramic therapeutics).