Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.1
Thermoset plastic resin products from biobased feedstocks developed by the
Biopolymers & Biocomposites Research Team at Iowa State University. Reproduced with
permission from [1]
http://www.biocom.iastate.edu/newsroom/gallery.html
.
decade, offering vegetable oils (or the fatty acids they contain) and furans the
potential to become platform monomers that can be tailored to any number of
material types and applications. The chemistries of terpenes, rosin, and tannins
have been established for some time, but with the renewed interest in alternative
feedstocks and advances in chemistry, these monomers have seen a renaissance
recently. Lastly, AHAs, in particular lactic acid, have been used in biomedical
applications for decades and have recently shown to be competitive in high-
volume applications such as packaging. Figure 5.1 shows a variety of products
made from thermosetting, moldable plastic materials derived from biofeedstocks,
demonstrating the broad field of applications for these materials.
This chapter focuses on currently available materials, most of which are
available on the commodities scale rather than on the scale provided by
genetic engineering with regard to tailor-made monomers from bacteria,
plants, and other sources. It should however be recognized that while some
researchers continuously push to optimize the utilization of the available
natural materials, others focus on how to manipulate nature to provide the
materials needed.
