Developing plant-based and renewable alternatives to petroleum derivatives is a great effort in the transition from a fossil economy to a more ecological and sustainable economy.
The obstacle along this path is the integration of new technologies in existing industrial systems, an integration that presents risks (evidently not worth taking by many) mainly linked to production mass and commercialization.
New research published in Energy and Environmental Science, a team from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has described a efficient process and economical to produce HMF, Hydroxymethylfurfural, a compound derived from plants and considered crucial in developing a renewable economy.
The process is simple and compatible with the industrial infrastructure associated with the production of corn syrup, a natural sweetener used in many foods (even Coca-Cola).
“We have integrated this technology into current industrial processes to reduce the risk initial 3 lower the initial capital needed to spread it on a large scale,”
Ali Hussain Motagamwala, leading the project.
HMF can be used to produce a wide range of materials and fuels: is the basis of today's Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), the common plastic used to produce mineral water bottles or other packaging: its employment would lead the spread of totally biodegradable bio-plastics.
The question of costs
At present and until the simple use of a productive process, the use of HMF is held back by its high production costs: bio-plastics are more expensive than material equivalents petroleum derivatives.
There is a strong demand for sustainable alternatives. The question at this point is: how competitive can they be compared to petroleum products, and how can we help them compete?
HMF has incredible potential, and produce it usingand the industrial fructose supply chain is a crucial challenge.
How the process works
The problem of the biodegradability of plastics arises from the substances that create "the mixture": solvents that end up impregnating the materials and are impossible to dissolve into the environment once used. The process developed by the team at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center solves the problem using a simple product, made from just water and acetone: the plastic thus obtained is solid but easily “separable” once used.
The researchers made an economic estimate on the sustainability of the process: with lowest price of approximately €1650 per ton, there is an economic return of 25%, a percentage that shows also the possible profitability of an investment in this sector.
It's not all: the same process can be applied even with glucose and biomass, even cheaper and more abundant than fructose, but this development is linked to a second phase of application, requiring a adaptation of the infrastructure.
