A company called Metabolix, based in Cambridge (MA), has been working on a technology to genetically engineer plants such as switchgrass to create a biodegradable polymer that can be extracted directly from the plant.
The research is focused on a polymer called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which is part of the polyhydroxyalkanoate polymer (PHA) family of biopolymers that Metabolix already supplies to plastics manufacturers. The new plant-based process is potentially cheaper and requires less equipment, Metabolix says.
… Full text: www.gizmag.com/metabolix-bioplastic-switchgrass/28578/
Tags: carbon footprint, PHB, CO2, injection molding, renewable energy
Source
gizmag.com, 2013-08-06.
Supplier
Metabolix
US Department of Energy (DoE)
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