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How coconut oil is turned into bioplastics

Bioplastic coconut oil

A chemistry doctoral student at the University of Graz has succeeded in developing a biodegradable, stable plastic based on coconut oil with the help of bacteria.

Researchers and companies across Europe are working together as part of the EU project "Biobased Value Circle" to produce environmentally friendly products from biomass and thus establish a bio-based circular economy - including doctoral student Klara Bangert from Wolfgang Kroutil's research team at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Graz.

Biodegradable plastic

Bangert is researching bioplastics. Both the starting materials and the end product are 100 per cent degradable - in contrast to conventional plastic, the production of which is based on fossil raw materials. The materials currently used for bioplastics are often not ideal, says Bangert, describing the starting point for her research work. She therefore opted for coconut oil as a suitable starting material - even though chemistry had not yet found a solution to turn the fatty acids in the oil into plastic building blocks, she explains.

Production of raw materials for bioplastics

Bangert found a suitable chemical catalyst in an enzyme that is produced with the help of bacteria. To explain: enzymes are involved in almost all metabolic processes as catalysers and require neither high temperatures nor high pressure. In combination with hydrogen peroxide, which is required as an oxidising agent, this enzyme enables the production of basic materials for more stable bioplastics via the process of biocatalysis. "The only residual material that remains after the process is water," explains Bangert. The findings were published in the scientific journal "Green Chemistry".

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Source: red, steiermark.ORF.at/Agencies

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