Biodegradable Plastics Produced by Fermentation Using E.Coli Bacteria
23 November 2009 | Green Technology | 1 Comment
Plastic materials are excessively used today, we find these materials everywhere and this is not a good thing. Many objects like tools or food packaging are made of plastics. Generally, plastics are environmentally harmful (non-degradable materials). The toxicity of these plastics must be taken also into account because it is actually a source of soil pollution and when we talk about soil pollution things are not so simple. For this reason, some South Korean scientists have found a method to produce biodegradable plastics, without using fossil fuels.
Polymers produced today are derived from fossil fuels. The process of producing polymers from renewable biomass has caught the attention of many companies because of current environmental problems. PLA is one example of petroleum-based plastics that is a biodegradable material.A recent study conducted by Professor Sang Yup Lee showed that artificial polymers can be produced by fermentation using E.Coli bacteria. “This new strategy should be useful to develop other organisms capable of producing various artificial polymers by fermentation directly from renewable resources, “said Lee Sang Yup. The advantage of using biodegradable plastics is that the environment suffers less and exhaustible resources are saved.
Tags: a source of soil polution, artificial polymers, biodegradable material, biodegradable plastics, Biomass, E.coli bacteria, environmentally harmful, food packaging, non-degradable materials, petroleum-based plastic, PLA, Plastic materials, Plastics, Polymers, South Korean scientists, toxicity, various artificial polymers
[...] 2009 Just as reminded in an earlier post, the attention towards the tremendous potential of microorganisms, when it comes to its use in creating a fuel-alternative has been spotted as important all along. [...]