Medium-chain-length poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) as biodegradable impact modifiers from renewable resources

中链长度聚-3-羟基烷酸酯（MCL-PHA）是由可再生资源生产的水稳定的、可生物降解的（在动物组织中）、生物相容的（对动物组织）、容易堆肥的弹性体。如果技术壁垒没有阻碍其生产并因此阻碍其商业应用的发展，MCL-PHA可能会广泛用于工业应用。虽然MCL-PHA还没有商业化，但Ramsay实验室现在能够生产大量的MCL-PHA。限制MCL-PHA商业化的其他因素是其低熔点，不能与其他生物塑料形成“相容”的共混物，以及其高成本。Ramsay教授正在开发工艺，以大幅降低MCL-PHA的生产成本，并已从施乐公司获得资金，以生产具有更高熔点的MCL-PHA，以及更容易与其他生物塑料混合的亲水性材料。 由可再生资源生产的一些最常见的环境可降解塑料，例如短链长度的聚-3-羟基链烷酸酯（SCL-PHA）和聚乳酸（PLA），由于其脆性性质而具有有限的用途。通常用于解决这些问题的市售抗冲改性剂是不可环境降解的，并且不是由可再生资源生产的。使用这样的抗冲改性剂将破坏使用PLA和SCL-PHA作为传统热塑性塑料的环境友好和可持续替代品的目的。MCL-PHA，特别是Xerox项目中正在开发的产品，非常适合填补这一市场空白。我们建议评估MCL-PHA作为商业化生产的PLA和SCL-PHA的冲击改性剂，以生产完全生物来源和可生物降解的聚合物材料。这将使MCL-PHA得到更广泛的使用，并产生工业上有用的材料，可能会在加拿大创造新的就业机会。该项目将为一名硕士，一名博士，一名本科生和一名研究助理提供聚合物加工和发酵技术的跨学科培训。

Medium-chain-length poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) are water-stable, biodegradable (in animal tissue), biocompatible (to animal tissue), readily compostable elastomers produced from renewable resources. MCL-PHAs would likely be widely used in industrial applications, if technical barriers had not hindered their production and consequently the development of commercial applications. Although MCL-PHAs are not commercially available, the Ramsay lab is now able to produce kg quantities of a broad range of MCL-PHAs. Other factors which limit MCL-PHA commercialization are its low melting point, its inability to form "compatible" blends with other bioplastics, and its high cost. Prof. Ramsay is developing processes to substantially reduce the cost of MCL-PHA production and has obtained funding from Xerox to produce MCL-PHAs with higher melting points as well as a more hydrophilic material that can be blended more easily with other bioplastics. Some of the most common environmentally degradable plastics produced from renewable resources such as short-chain-length poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates (SCL-PHAs) and polylactic acid (PLA) have limited usefulness because of their brittle nature. Commercially available impact modifiers that are typically used to solve such problems are not environmentally degradable and are not produced from renewable resources. Use of such impact modifiers would defeat the purpose of using PLAs and SCL-PHAs as environmentally friendly and sustainable replacements of conventional thermoplastics. MCL-PHAs, especially the ones being developed in the Xerox project, are ideally suited to fill this market niche. We propose to assess MCL-PHAs to act as impact modifiers for commercially produced PLA and SCL-PHA to produce polymer materials that are entirely bio-sourced and biodegradable. This will enable the more widespread use of MCL-PHAs and result in industrially useful materials that can potentially lead to the creation of new jobs in Canada. This project will provide interdisciplinary training for one MSc, one PhD, one undergraduate student and a Research Associate in polymer processing and fermentation technology.