Breakthrough innovation of bioplastic through seaweed developed by National Institute of Ocean Technology India
Seaweed BioPlastic
The NIOT – National Institute of Ocean Technology has created a bioplastic film with marine seaweed and PEG-3000. It could substantially impact restricting the usage of non-biodegradable plastics and a game-changer in the plastic business.
Bioplastic flexible safely breaks down on the earth without leaving any toxicity. The physical and mechanical properties of bioplastic flexible film match the features of common plastics.
Traditional plastics act as a grave threat due to their interaction with water resulting in the generation of hazardous chemicals that finally migrate into the environment. Other bioplastics films, such as those produced from plant-based materials like corn starch and sugarcane, as eco-friendly and renewable sources, are similar to seaweed-based bioplastic. Regular plastic takes centuries to break down.
In their attempt to find viable options without hampering the land-based edible plants utilized for human consumption, specialists have now focused their research on finding marine biomass to create biodegradable plastics more sustainably that biomass is used for feedstocks is not concerned.
In a highly populated country like India, several hazardous plastics are used rampantly due to packaging other consumer and food products. However, researchers from NIOT have now successfully developed and tested bioplastic films by opting for environment-friendly techniques utilizing seaweed. The utilization of renewable seaweed is one of those options they found viable.
Red Algae Kappaphycus Alvarezii
The name is Red algae Kappaphycus alvarezii – seaweed shown to be an essential commercial source of carrageenans and other products. It is for a broad range of industrial purposes. These algae are extremely colloidal and are inexpensive to grow within a quick cultivation time (45 days) by simply using sunlight without the demand for fresh water or chemicals.
Characteristics of Seaweed BioPlastic
They are also potential sources of polymers comparable to terrestrial plant-based polymers. It is used to make food packaging and transport bags that help good oxygen and moisture permeability. Good OTR – oxygen transmission rate and MVTR – moisture permeability are two essential parameters for fresh product packaging to extend their shelf life. NIOT specialists recommend that red seaweed could be our environmental protector when substituting harmful plastics.
Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-3000
NIOT scientists employed a macro-algae Kappaphycus alvarezii (whole seaweed), which they developed in the Gulf of Mannar section for bioplastic film production with the plasticizer polyethylene glycol (PEG)-3000 to obtain higher tensile strength.
Non-Toxic and Eco-friendly
PEG is non-toxic and eco-friendly plastic, mainly used to enhance the polymer’s thermos-plasticity in the medicinal fields to produce creams and dispersing agents used in medicinal products.
Property of Biodegradable nature
The present NIOT research showed that bioplastic polymers could biodegrade quickly in a short time without producing any toxic wastes. These can also be disposed of into a household food waste Kerb collection mechanism. The research implies that the commercial manufacturing of bioplastics from this seaweed would be a game-changer in the future.
Research Team
The research was led by Dr. Muthiyal Prabakaran Sudhakar, Mr. Dhassiah Magesh Peter, and Dr. Gopal Dharani from Ocean Science and Technology for Islands, Marine Biotechnology, NIOT, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Chennai, and was recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
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