Bright IDEAS Award: High strength starch based plastics

这项研究的想法是开发一系列从“灰色”淀粉中提取的生物塑料，这是一种由食品工业产生的废物。此前EPSRC资助的研究已经确定了一系列天然的、可生物降解的、廉价的添加剂，当它们添加到淀粉中时，可以产生新的吹泡沫。由于使用盐作为粘合剂，这些材料具有真正独特的性能。初步研究表明，替代添加剂和加工技术可以产生坚硬的透明塑料，这是迄今为止用淀粉无法实现的。这种所谓的“盐变性淀粉”可以为生物塑料提供第一个机会，在成本和机械性能上与油基塑料竞争，同时在可持续性和环境影响标准上胜出。该项目的目的是进行进一步的研究，以开发和制定制造刚性透明淀粉基塑料所需的条件。该项目还将尝试制造第一个含有醋酸纤维素的单相淀粉复合材料，使材料具有水稳定性。我们希望评估这些生物塑料的机械和物理性能，并生产用于各种应用评估的测试样品。与传统的油基塑料不同，淀粉基材料是完全可堆肥的。作为研究项目的一部分，我们希望评估分解这些新材料的时间框架和条件。

The research idea is to develop a range of bioplastics derived from 'grey' starch, a waste product generated by the food industry. Previous EPSRC funded research has identified a range of natural, biodegradeble and inexpensive additives which can produce novel blown foams when added to starch. The materials have truly unique properties which are enabled due to the use of salts as the binding agents. Preliminary studies have shown that alternatives additives and processing techniques can generate hard transparent plastics which have hitherto been impossible to achieve with starch. The so-called 'salt modified starch' could offer the first opportunity for bioplastics to potentially compete with oil-based plastics both on cost and mechanical properties while at the same time winning out on sustainability and environmental impact criteria.The aim of this project is to undertake further research to develop and formulate the conditions required to make rigid, transparent starch-based plastics. The project will also attempt to make the first monophase starch composites with cellulose acetate rendering the materials water stable. We wish to evaluate the mechanical and physical properties of these bioplastics and to produce test samples for evaluation in a variety of applications. Unlike conventional oil-based plastics the starch based materials are fully compostable. As part of the research project we wish to evaluate the time frame and conditions of decomposition these new materials.