Technology Transfer of Salt Modified Starch Packaging Material

全球塑料年产量约为1亿吨。如果再加上提取和加工石油以制造原料塑料颗粒所需的能源，这相当于约2亿吨石油，约占世界石油年产量的4%。2001年，包装占英国470万吨塑料制品消费量的35%，占塑料废物总量的56%。超过80%的塑料被一次性使用，然后被扔进垃圾填埋场，而只有7%的塑料被回收利用。日益减少的石油供应使得发现可持续和负担得起的聚合物替代品势在必行。在先前资助的EPSRC提案中，我们已经表明淀粉可以简单地使用盐进行改性，以生产具有类似于发泡聚苯乙烯的机械性能的可堆肥材料。该项目旨在进行市场评估，并生产必要的原型材料，以将碳水化合物基聚合物的初步研究结果商业化。该项目将侧重于发泡聚合物，旨在将其用于包装行业，以替代发泡聚苯乙烯。将进行一次全面的市场调查，并将制作宣传资料和材料规格。

The annual global production of plastic is around 100 million tonnes per year. When combined with the energy required to extract and process the oil to make raw plastic pellets this is equivalent to about 200 million tonnes of oil; or about 4% of the world's annual oil production. Packaging accounted for 35% of the UK's consumption of 4.7 million tonnes of plastic products in 2001 and 56% of the total for plastic waste. More than 80% of all this plastic is used once and then thrown into landfill sites, while only 7% of plastic is recycled. The dwindling oil supplies makes the discovery of a sustainable and affordable polymer replacement imperative. In a previously funded EPSRC proposal we have shown starch can be simply modified using salts to produce a compostable material with mechanical properties similar to expanded polystyrene. This project aims to undertake the market evaluation and produce prototype materials necessary to commercialise the preliminary findings on carbohydrate based polymers. The project will focus on expanded polymers with the intention of aiming them at the packaging industry as a replacement for expanded polystyrene. A complete market survey will be undertaken and promotional literature will be produced with material specification.