Findings from a new study conducted at the University of Missouri indicate the possibility that a large proportion of petroleum-based plastics could soon be replaced by non-polluting and biodegradable plastics produced from plants.
More than twenty million tons of plastic are buried in the ground every year in the US. Findings from a new study conducted at the University of Missouri indicate the possibility that a large proportion of petroleum-based plastics could soon be replaced by non-polluting and biodegradable plastics produced from plants. This "green" alternative, which reduces the amount of carbon residues and the reliance on imported fuel, could also help reduce the costs of the farmers in growing their crops.
"Making plastics from plants is not a new idea," said Brian Mooney, professor of biochemistry. "Plastics prepared from vegetable starch and soy proteins have already been used in the past, for a certain period of time, as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics. The relatively new thing - and the more interesting - is the idea of using plants to actually grow plastics out of them."
Thanks to the application of several advanced molecular methods, scientists are able to inject three enzymes of bacterial origin into a model plant called Arabidopsis thaliana constitutes a model organism). When the system is combined with two enzymes from the plant, an organic polymer is formed. The polymer, known by its name - polyhydroxybutyrate-co-polyhydroxyvalerate, or PHBV, is a flexible and shapeable plastic that can be used to produce a wide variety of products, such as grocery bags, drinking bottles and disposable razors and tableware. When it is thrown away, the plastic breaks down naturally into water and carbon dioxide through the bacteria in the soil.
"One of the two plant enzymes that provide the chemical precursors for PHBV is produced in the mitochondria. "Recently, the researchers were able to adapt the plants so that this enzyme could grow specifically in the chloroplast, which was defined as the best area of the plant for the production of PHBV," explains the lead researcher. "In addition, we were able to verify that a functional and stable clasp was created in the process."
These latest advances may remove two of the remaining technological hurdles that limit companies' ability to turn vast areas of grassland into biodegradable plastic factories. The next step, says the lead researcher, is to test if the method works in "real" factories and not just in the laboratory. The researchers have already begun collaborations with suitable factories to test their new method. One of the companies had already managed to produce one type of biodegradable plastic in the past, but the utilization of the process was low. The researchers hope that this research can lead to a higher utilization in obtaining biodegradable plastics that will be used in a variety of applications.
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But it's still interesting material, I didn't mean to cause anything wrong!
My boredom...
Without being overwhelmed by all the material!?!?!
How am I supposed to read all this on such a small piece of plastic, so much hardware, may you all be healthy!
Regarding the name of the plant in Hebrew:
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%94
to the stag,
One of the byproducts of our breathing is carbon dioxide. I hope you won't suggest under-breathing to prevent the emission of this gas.
To 1
Plastic is not the name of a specific material, but of a whole family of materials that vary considerably from one another.
By the way, most of the materials belonging to this family are not harmful to the environment at all, contrary to their bad image - an image that stems from a lack of knowledge.
If at the end of the process, one of the by-products is, again, carbon dioxide, then what have we gained by it? I guess that as with any new process it is simply necessary to quantify it, something that is expected to change considerably first. Before that, it cannot be said that this is a better solution.
I hope people buy it anyway, many people don't really understand the pollution of plastic and don't want to invest money in the environment.
Say, Nicole's biodegradable "plastic" bags, are they different?
An interesting use for PHB is transgenic cotton that produces cotton fiber with PHB. The fiber absorbs less water and retains heat.
John, ME and Keller, G. 1996. Metabolic pathway engineering
in cotton: Biosynthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate in fiber cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 93: 12768–12773.
Plastics are not plastics since it is a personal name of a material,
So is a vehicle and not vehicles, bread and not breads, weapons and not weapons,
It seems to me that the name of the plant in Hebrew is Torim.