We are well aware that plastic is a major source of pollution and is manufactured from crude-oil, which is a non-renewable resource. Even after continuous research it is difficult to find better alternatives for plastic. Even if some are found, they have the same problems as traditional plastic. To try another way out, Kobe University produces green plastic with microbial plastic factory.
The Kobe University development is providing a platform for the production of industrial-scale material that can convert plastic industry green. During this process scientists came across a promising alternative, polylactic acid. It is produced from plants and is very fragile. But even if it is brittle, it does not degrade well.
Kobe University bioengineers are working with Taguchi Seiichi along with Kaneka Corporation, a biodegradable polymer manufacturing company. Together they have decided to mix polylactic acid with LAHB, which is another bioplastic but with a range of desirable properties. Moreover, LAHB mixes well with polylactic acid and it is biodegradable too.
However, to produce LAHB plastic they need to engineer a strain of bacteria that will naturally produce a precursor. It will do so by systematically manipulating genome of the organism, adding new genes and deleting interfering genes.
Engineered bacteria can produce source plastic that is fracture-resistant, more processable and highly biodegradable just by producing a plastic modifier.
Highlights from the Report
According to the published report, researchers mentioned the following points.
- By using glucose feedstock, they were able to create a bacterial plastic factory that effectively produces high amounts of LAHB chains.
- Additionally, they can control the length of LAHB chain by modifying the genome thus the resulting product have plastic properties.
- They were able to create ultra-high molecular weight LAHB by producing chains up to 10 times longer. Conventional methods cannot create such longer chains.
- Not just this, but by adding LAHB, it became easy to obtain all the properties in the newly created material that researchers were aiming for.
- This results in a more shock resistant and better moldable and highly transparent plastic. Also, this one will easily biodegrade in seawater within a week.
Kobe University produces green plastic with microbial plastic factory researchers have high hopes about the strain of bacteria used in this study. The think that it can also use CO2 as a raw material. This way it would be possible to synthesize useful plastic directly from the GHGs.
Source: A microbial plastic factory for high-quality green plastic