[China Packaging Network News] Ordinary plastic packaging poses a threat to the environment, but biodegradable bio-plastic but not enough toughness, this problem can not be resolved. The research team at Tuskegee University in Alabama, USA, has adopted an ingenious approach. The use of nanoshell nanoparticles to toughen bioplastics is expected to truly transform bioplastics into ideal packaging materials.
Studies have shown that adding nanoscale egg shells to bioplastics can create the first biodegradable packaging material that is flexible but not easily broken.
Dr. Vijaya K. Rangari stated: “We are focusing on decomposing egg shells into small components and then adding them into bioplastics. These nano-sized eggshell fragments increase the strength of the material. We believe in the above advantages and its bio-availability. Degradability will make egg shell bioplastics a very attractive packaging material."
Rangari and Boniface Tiimob and colleagues used a variety of polymer materials for research. Finally, they found a mixture containing 70% PBAT (polyadipate/butylene terephthalate) and 30% PLA (polylactic acid) (PBAT is a petroleum polymer, and PLA is derived from corn starch). Unlike other petroleum-based plastics, PBAT has been designed to begin degrading in the soil for three months.
In order to enhance the toughness of the material, eggshell nanoparticles have emerged. The eggshell is porous, lightweight, and consists of calcium carbonate, a readily degradable natural compound. By milling the clean eggshells in polypropylene glycol and sonicating, the researchers obtained eggshell nanoparticle size of 350,000th of the size of the hair. They then added these small particles to the PBAT and PLA blends described above and found that the bioplastics with added eggshell particles were 7 times more resilient than ordinary bioplastics. They said that such a flexible material is an ideal packaging material.