2009 R&D 100 Winner
The long-term commercial success of biofuel production will depend on the use of excess materials sourced from bio-refineries. Battelle, Columbus, Ohio, with the development help of the Ohio Soybean Council, Worthington, Ohio, and Univenture, Marysville, Ohio, has manufactured a new Bio-based material derived from agricultural co-products that takes advantage of the widespread, low-cost availability of polypropylene and substances based on soy, corn, and wheat. This new mix of thermoplastic polymer and agricultural materials is made in a single step by mixing unpurified agricultural co-product (about 10-40% by weight depending on application) with the thermoplastic. Typically, this type of product contains thermally degradable proteins, which would be incompatible with conventional high-temperature polymer processing equipment. But, Batelle and partners have overcome this barrier by literally unfolding the proteins themselves, resulting in protection from thermal damage by barrier-assisted reactive extrusion. This product can be used to make any articles that are currently made from polypropylene or polyethylene via injection blow molding, and has similar impact strength compared to pure polypropylene.
Technology
Bio-based material derived from agricultural co-products
Developers
Battelle
Ohio Soybean Council
Univenture
