{"id":6722,"date":"2017-06-30T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=6722"},"modified":"2018-03-20T11:16:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T17:16:11","slug":"pe-renewable-resourced-plastics-polyamides-biosources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/6722\/pe-renewable-resourced-plastics-polyamides-biosources\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewable Resourced Plastics: Polyamides from Biosources"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Established
Established polyamides (such as nylon 6, 6\/6, and 12) are produced from fossil fuels. Bio-based alternatives are now entering the fray.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though fossil resources have gotten much cheaper in recent years, there are big efforts to replace standard plastics by polymers made from renewable resources. Reduced consumption of fossil resources is especially important because of the climate change issues caused by the release of carbon dioxide. Away from the production of biodegradable polymers \u2014 for example, for packaging applications \u2014 there is a burgeoning interest in high performance materials made from renewable resources.<\/p>\n

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Various raw materials as building blocks for plastics. SOURCE: Fraunhofer IGB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology in Germany have developed a process for manufacturing high-quality plastics from terpenes<\/strong>, a waste stream of cellulose production.1<\/sup> The synthesis of polyamides from terpenes was developed at BioCat \u2013 Bio, Electro and Chemocataysis \u2014 the Straubing branch of Fraunhofer IGB, under the direction of Professor Volker Sieber.<\/p>\n

Terpenes are a renewable resource that is generated in large quantities as a side stream of pulp production as well as in the fruit industry. As a waste stream, the application of terpenes for the production of new bioplastics is not in conflict with the need of food production for humans and animals.<\/p>\n

Today, significant amounts of terpenes are not used as a bio-based raw material, but incinerated to aid the energy supply of pulp mills. But because of the complex structure of the terpenes, a much higher value application is desirable.<\/p>\n

Researchers expect to be able to manufacture products like coatings, textiles and adhesives from the bio-based polyamides. Up to now, these bio-based plastics have been manufactured only in the laboratory, but the plan is to develop a synthetic route which allows future production on an industrial scale.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, another novel high-performance bio-based polyamide, poly(pentamethylene oxamide)<\/strong>, exhibits excellent mechanical, thermal, and water absorption properties, and is suitable for the fabrication of plastic parts for the automobile and electronics industries.<\/p>\n

1,5-pentanediamine (also known as cadaverine<\/strong>) is a potential renewable candidate to replace hexamethylenediamine in the production of polyamide (an important polymer in the plastic and textile industries). To date, however, yields of 1,5-pentanediamine have been too low for commercialisation and only recently has cadaverine been produced on a mass scale.<\/p>\n

Cadaverine can be used to produce a variety of polyoxamides \u2014 a class of polyamides that include the shortest possible diacid link (an oxalyl unit) in their parent chain. These have recently attracted attention because they exhibit high chemical resistance, melting temperature, modulus, and UV light stability, as well as low water absorption and solubility properties. They include:<\/p>\n