Circular Solution for Bioplastics, McDonald’s Fryer Oil to 3D Printing Resin, Human Hair to Fertilizer, Crab Shells and Seaweed to Yarn, and More: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of February 6th

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The infinity symbol…a figure 8 on its side, a lemniscate…no matter what you call it, it signifies the concept of limitlessness or eternity which is what the bioeconomy has been doing lately in its limitless innovations. It’s been a big week for bioplastics with Danimer Scientific and Columbia Packaging Group partnering to make compostable produce bags from Danimer’s Nodax polyhydroxyalkanoate, Perrier to invest €1million ($1.1 million) in three startups to develop more sustainable packaging for its sparkling water, and UK researchers developed a way to recycled plant-based plastics – giving all the bioplastic naysayers a moment of silence.

In today’s Digest, let’s dive into bioplastics as well as some other exciting, slightly creepy, Top 10 Innovations like the conversion of human hair into melanin, keratin and fertilizer, old McDonald’s fryer oil being converted into biodegradable 3D printing resin, yarn made from crab shells and seaweed, and more – and it’s ready for you now at The Digest online. READ MORE

#7 Finding a circular solution for bioplastics

In the United Kingdom, researchers from the University of Bath and University of Birmingham have developed a way to recycled plant-based plastics.

“Most plastic is currently recycled using mechanical methods, where they are chipped into granules and melted down before being molded into something new,” Professor Matthew Jones from the University of Bath says. “The problem is, melting plastic changes its properties, and reduces the quality, which limits the range of products in which it can be used. Our method of chemical recycling overcomes this problem by breaking down plastic polymers into their chemical building blocks, so they can be used all over again to make virgin plastic without losing any properties.”

By changing temperature and catalyst, the team was able to recycle polylactic acid.

“PLA is being increasingly used as a sustainable alternative for single-use plastics. Whilst it’s biodegradable under industrial conditions, it doesn’t biodegrade with home composting, and isn’t currently recycled, so at the moment it commonly ends up contributing to the tonnes of plastic waste in landfill and oceans,” said Dr. Paul McKeown from the University of Bath.

The group will now work to scale the process, which was described in a recent issue of ChemSusChem
More on the story, here.

#9 World’s first commercial-scale green hydrogen plant has been announced by a trio of Belgian companies

In Belgium, Rechargenews reported that the offshore wind engineer DEME, the financier PMV, and the Port of Ostend plan to build a 50 MW demonstration plant— and its set to be the worlds largest electrolyzer plant and the worlds first commercial-scale green hydrogen plant. The companies announced their hope that “by 2022, the roll-out of a large-scale shore-based power project, running on green hydrogen, will start.” Several companies have suggested that green hydrogen could become cost-competitive with grey hydrogen by 2030, but only if the projects such as the one occurring on the port of Belgium become more common, thereby bringing the hydrogen market to scale.
More on the story, here.