Specialists from the Institute of Biophysics SB RAS (part of the Yenisei Siberia Scientific and Educational Center) have developed fully biodegradable composites based on PHA polymer and plant waste.
The new technology solves two problems at once: it reduces the amount of non-degradable plastic and lowers the cost of “green” materials by utilizing waste from fish processing, the forestry industry, and agriculture. Depending on the composition, the plastic’s properties can be modified—making it ultra-strong for construction or rapidly degradable for packaging.
Scientists synthesized a polymer from waste Baltic sprat fat and then mixed it with birch wood flour, chaff, and industrial hemp fibers. Laboratory tests showed that a composite containing 70% hemp fibers loses more than half its mass in just three months.
“Fat from smoked sprat heads costs approximately 35 rubles per kilogram, which is half the cost of glucose.” “The specific cost of the carbon substrate is reduced by 2.5 to 3.5 times. As a result, the cost of PHA becomes comparable to that of polylactides, making the composites competitive and opening up prospects for mass production,” summarized Tatyana Volova, head of the study and head of a laboratory at the Institute of Biophysics SB RAS.
Cover photo: Kola Science Center SB RAS