Sustainable Technologies for Degradable Single-Use Plastics Yield Promising Results

Strategic Insights -

Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology have made a breakthrough in developing degradable single-use plastics that are environmentally friendly and competitive with synthetic options. The team, led by Athanasios Latras, has found a way to create fully biopolymer-based porous absorbents from integrated proteins and lignocellulosic residues, all sourced from biomass waste. These absorbents have shown promising results in absorbing saline solutions, with the ability to retain up to 6.5 g/g of the solution in their structure, surpassing the highest reported value for extruded protein-based formulations.

Key Takeaways:

  • The researchers have developed a method for continuous extrusion of fully biopolymer-based porous absorbents derived from integrated proteins and lignocellulosic residues.
  • The addition of oat husk, a lignocellulosic byproduct from the food industry, increases the saline absorption capacity of the extruded materials by 1.5 times.
  • The delignification step on the oat husk and wheat bran further improves the absorption by 2 times.
  • The inclusion of 20 wt% of Keratin fibers from food waste increases the material's absorbency to 6.5 g/g, with the ability to retain 2 g/g of the saline solution in its structure.
  • This work advances the development of porous absorbent materials with competitive performance, utilizing industrial methods and upcycling undervalued biomass waste into sustainable consumer products.
  • The research concludes that introducing porous biopolymer-based materials as alternatives to synthetic counterparts used in the hygiene and sanitary industries ensures the return of safe molecules to nature.
  • The team's findings have been peer-reviewed and published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials.

Statistics:

  • The absorption capacity of the extruded materials increases by 1.5 times with the inclusion of oat husk.
  • The saturation point of the materials reaches 6.5 g/g with the inclusion of 20 wt% of Keratin fibers from food waste.
  • The materials can retain up to 2 g/g of the saline solution in their structure.
  • The results show that the use of lignocellulosic residues and proteins from biomass waste can increase the material's absorption by 2 times.
  • The development of porous absorbent materials with competitive performance has the potential to reduce the impact of microplastics on the environment.

Sources:

  • Extruded Porous Protein-lignocellulosic Blends As Fully Bio-based Alternative To Single-use Absorbent Plastics. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2025.
  • Journal of Engineering, p 1337.