IN THIS PROJECT, OUR TEAM WILL CONVERT FOREST RESOURCES TO HIGH-VALUE RENEWABLE, BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS.MODERN PETROLEUM-DERIVED POLYMER PLASTICS HAVE FOUND EXTENSIVE USE AS THERMOPLASTIC ENGINEERING MATERIALS, SUCH AS HIGH-STRENGTH PLASTICS USED IN AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS, ADVANCED PAPER COATINGS, AND COMPUTER PARTS. HOWEVER, THESYNTHESIS AND DISPOSAL OF THERMOPLASTICS REMAINS ENVIRONMENTALLY CHALLENGING. MOREOVER, THE SHALE GAS BOOM IS PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE MARKETS FOR THE APPROPRIATE STARTING MATERIALS, WHICH CAN BE OBTAINED FROM CRUDE OIL BUT NOT NATURAL GAS. CONSEQUENTLY, BIOBASED POLYMERS HAVE BEEN TARGETED AS REPLACEMENTS BY UTILIZING BIOMASS-DERIVED, RENEWABLE FEEDSTOCKS. AN ADDED BENEFIT TO THIS APPROACH IS THAT THE FINAL PRODUCTS ARE OFTEN DEGRADABLE, LEADING TO DECREASES IN LANDFILLED WASTE. HOWEVER, ONLY POLY(LACTIC ACID) (PLA) HAS YET FOUND BROAD COMMERCIAL SUCCESS AS A THERMOPLASTIC. PLA HAS MOSTLY BEEN USED IN THE DISPOSABLE PACKAGING MARKET BECAUSE IT IS SIMILAR IN CERTAIN RESPECTS TO POLYSTYRENE AND POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE FOR PLASTIC BAGS AND SODA BOTTLES, RESPECTIVELY. IT HAS NOT FOUND BROADER ACCEPTANCE BECAUSE ITS CHEMICAL STRUCTURE YIELDS A LOW SOFTENING TEMPERATURE OF ONLY 60 °C, AND IT IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO DEGRADATION IN WET ENVIRONMENTS.IN THIS WORK, WE WILL USE WOODY BIOMASS AS A FEEDSTOCK FOR PRODUCING POLYMER PRECURSORS. WE WILL USE A PLATFORM CHEMICAL APPROACH, WHICH MIMICS HOW PLASTICS ARE PRODUCED IN TRADITIONAL PETROCHEMICAL FACILITIES. THE CELLULOSE FRACTION OF WOODY BIOMASS WILL BE CONVERTED TO A PLATFORM CHEMICAL CALLED 5-HYDROXYMETHYLFURFURAL (A.K.A. "HMF"). THE HMF WILL BE CONVERTED TO A VARIETY OF POLYMER PRECURSORS BY COMBINING IT WITH PORTIONS OF LIGNIN (THE "GLUE" THAT HOLDS WOOD TOGETHER IN TREES). WE WILL THEN APPLY TRADITIONAL POLYMERIZATION TECHNIQUES TO CONVERT THESE PRECURSORS INTO PLASTICS AND CHARACTERIZE THE PROPERTIES OF THE FINAL MATERIALS.

University Of Maine System

Investigators