New Method Swaps Pressurized Biomass For Petroleum in Plastics, Cosmetics
An accidental chemistry discovery could lead to a new method for making antifreeze, moisturizer and plastic bottles out of biomass rather than petroleum, according to researchers at Iowa State University. Professor Walter Trahanovsky was using a high-temperature chemistry process to see if he could obtain sugar derivatives from cellulose. It's based on supercritical fluids, which are heated under pressure until their fluid and gas states merge. It is not quite as exotic as it sounds - supercritical carbon dioxide is used to decaffeinate coffee. Related ArticlesWith a Little Help, E. Coli Turns Biomass Directly to BiodieselSelf-Sustaining Robot Equipped with New Artificial Gut Eats, and Excretes, All By ItselfPoplar Science: Producing More Biomass from Genetically Beefed-Up TreesTagsScience, Rebecca Boyle, biomass, bioplastics, chemistry, iowa state universityTrahanovsky and his colleagues put cellulosic materials in alcohols and subjected them to high temperatures and pressures. They got the sugars they were looking for, but they also found...