Plastics made from wood... a reality now. Caution may contain science content!

[oldsman496]

Petroleum plastics: a thing of the past?
Oil-based plastics used in pharmaceutical, food and beverage packaging might soon be replaced by those made from biomass, according to research at Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

Led by Professor Krijn De Jong, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis at Utrecht, the team have developed a catalyst that enables the production of plastics from wood-based biomass that have the same characteristics as petroleum-derived plastics. ‘The bioplastic is identical to plastics made today from oil,’ says De Jong.

Professor De Jong explains the process behind the research. ‘Biomass is first converted to synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. From synthesis gas the lower olefins (such as ethane or propene) are made identical to those used today based on crude oil.’ These olefins then form the crucial building blocks necessary to make plastics suitable for a wide range of uses.

The key ingredient of the research was the catalyst developed by the research team. ‘The catalyst contains iron nanoparticles promoted by small amounts of sodium and sulphur,’ explains De Jong, adding that the iron nanoparticles in the catalyst convert the synthesis gas into lower olefins.

According to the researchers, any type of wood waste can be used in the process. They add that the raw materials consist of wood-like biomass, such as branches, plant stalks and pruning waste. ‘We can use poor soil not suitable for agriculture,’ says De Jong. ‘Also, we do not use carbohydrates but rather lignocellulose biomass.’ De Jong adds that the material is a sustainable and efficient method that could provide a long-term replacement for petroleum-based plastics, but for this to happen, a shift in infrastructure would be needed, in particular, towards increasing the sustainable production of biomass that does not compete with food.

According to De Jong, no special facilities or technology are needed to produce biomass plastic. ‘All technology is [already] known, the missing link was our catalyst.’



Author : Michael Bennett
Packaging Professional Magazine

[oldsman496]

AND from New Scientist. Com

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528786.100-why-wood-pulp-is-worlds-new-wonder-material.html

THE hottest new material in town is light, strong and conducts electricity. What's more, it's been around a long, long time.

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC), which is produced by processing wood pulp, is being hailed as the latest wonder material. Japan-based Pioneer Electronics is applying it to the next generation of flexible electronic displays. IBM is using it to create components for computers. Even the US army is getting in on the act, using it to make lightweight body armour and ballistic glass.

To ramp up production, the US opened its first NCC factory in Madison, Wisconsin, on 26 July, marking the rise of what the US National Science Foundation predicts will become a $600 billion industry by 2020.

So why all the fuss? Well, not only is NCC transparent but it is made from a tightly packed array of needle-like crystals which have a strength-to-weight ratio that is eight times better than stainless steel. Even better, it's incredibly cheap.

"It is the natural, renewable version of a carbon nanotube at a fraction of the price," says Jeff Youngblood of Purdue University's NanoForestry Institute in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The $1.7 million factory, which is owned by the US Forest Service, will produce two types of NCC: crystals and fibrils.

Production of NCC starts with "purified" wood, which has had compounds such as lignin and hemicellulose removed. It is then milled into a pulp and hydrolysed in acid to remove impurities before being separated and concentrated as crystals into a thick paste that can be applied to surfaces as a laminate or processed into strands, forming nanofibrils. These are hard, dense and tough, and can be forced into different shapes and sizes. When freeze-dried, the material is lightweight, absorbent and good at insulating.

"The beauty of this material is that it is so abundant we don't have to make it," says Youngblood. "We don't even have to use entire trees; nanocellulose is only 200 nanometres long. If we wanted we could use twigs and branches or even sawdust. We are turning waste into gold."

The US facility is the second pilot production plant for cellulose-based nanomaterials in the world. The much larger CelluForce facility opened in Montreal, Canada, in November 2011 and is now producing a tonne of NCC a day.

Theodore Wegner, assistant director of the US factory, says it will be producing NCC on a large scale. It will be sold at just several dollars a kilogram within a couple of years. He says it has taken this long to unlock the potential of NCC because the technology to explore its properties, such as electron scanning microscopes, only emerged in the last decade or so.

NCC will replace metal and plastic car parts and could make nonorganic plastics obsolete in the not-too-distant future, says Phil Jones, director of new ventures and disruptive technologies at the French mineral processing company IMERYS. "Anyone who makes a car or a plastic bag will want to get in on this," he says.

In addition, the human body can deal with cellulose safely, says Jones, so NCC is less dangerous to process than inorganic composites. "The worst thing that could happen is a paper cut," he says.

When this article was first posted, Jeff Youngblood was incorrectly quoted as saying that nanocellulose is 2 nanometres long. It also incorrectly stated that NCC material has eight times the tensile strength of stainless steel – this has now been corrected.

end.


Time's a 'changin'?

If i had money I might want to invest in CelluForce if you can.... not that i would ever make any reccomendation on stocks as i may not know of what i speak...ya know?

[Deaf Bob]

Prolly be killed by tree huggers or the petroleum industry...

[studemax]

Oil is still cheaper than wood.... so I don't look for any big changes soon.

[Beagle]

I can see it happening simply because it is renewable. What I hate is the cutting of old growth, "But we reforested" with fast growth crap wood, but at least they are reforesting. Didn't England / Europe already go through that a few hundred years back?

Sorry, I digress. What I meant to say was they use corn for packaging already, there are several companies using bio-plastics for containers. I never got a feel for the decomposition rate, is it any different? If we fill a landfill with this junk, is it still going to be un-recoverable land forever?

[Barry Donovan]

interesting stuff. I probably made stuff like it by accident with potatoes, eggs and an old rusty frying pan.

I am beyond guessing, most petroleum outcomes can be had elsewhere. trees have a big void in the market due to less paper use by computers.

I go this place and pickup mulch in a rig. quite a big pile.

the only thing that gets me is americas use of agent orange, the nuclear games... all those poisons grow into the toughest trees. purifying would be a disgusting pile of something someplace.

[Thumpin455]

Rubber and plastics have only been made from oil since the tail end of WWII. Long story about that that would just serve to piss you off. We already have plastics made from cellulose, including the little bit in corn and of course hemp.

I read about the NCC the other day, really cool stuff, especially how you dont have to cut the tree down, you can just harvest lower branches and undergrowth making the forest healthier and less fire prone. I wonder if hemp can also be used for NCC, because that stuff grows incredibly fast and produces fibers about a hundred times faster than trees do. The problem is, it is still illegal despite it not having any THC in it. Another long story that just serves to piss you off.

Things like plastic packaging, shopping bags and other shit that just ends up as litter or pollution piss me off. Throw away plastics and disposable everything are stupid and wasteful. The stuff they are talking about doing with the wood makes sense, as long as it isnt stupid ass plastic shopping bags or single use water bottles.

How the hell did I become a hippy tree hugger with assault rifles, muscle cars, and a 700hp drag car?

[DanStokes]

Why not? We're making wood (like deck planking) from plastic, so why not the other way around?

Dan

[Mater]

so we could get plastic deck planking made form wood

[DanStokes]

That's made from plastic. The ultimate recycling. But where does the cycle start?

Dan

[TC]

Stronger that Carbon Nano Tubes is what got my attention.........

[Thumpin455]

Stronger that Carbon Nano Tubes is what got my attention.........

I know right. Pretty amazing stuff if you understand what it all means. The conductivity is VERY interesting too.

[oldsman496]

I know right. Pretty amazing stuff if you understand what it all means. The conductivity is VERY interesting too.

Yeah... those are the items that got me interested enough to post this on this site. If you made fenders and frames from it, you could keep the Negative ground systems that most cars use today. honestly, that's a BIG deal nowadays. If you have to change the way the exisiting car is wired, that's a a lot of expense and testing.... If you can simply replace a part with a new material that is functionaly the same or exceeds the previous parts specifications... you're $'s ahead...! And using waste biomass such as grass clippings or yard waste in general, would cut a decent percentage of stuff from filling landfills.... and that's good too. Hope this does take off...