Production of Bioplastics from Waste of Food Industry

In recent years growing interest in research of bio plastics was observed. The reasons are twofold. On the one hand alternatives to plastics from fossil resources are searched for on the other hand the rising amount of waste causes the typical problems. Bio plastics can be used for broad applications like plastics from fossil resources. Particularly utilizations with short life cycles like packaging materials or catering articles are interesting applications. Bio plastics are produced from renewable resources and are degradable by micro organisms, by composting. The project is concerned with Polyhydroxyalkanoats (PHA). PHA can be distinguished from other bio plastics by advantageous properties, as gas barrier, water absorption and melt temperature. Within this project an overall economical and ecological feasible process for production of PHA shall be developed. The aim of this project is to design a new process which considers the influence of the single unit operations on each other and all possible recycling of side products. All these progressions in process development shall enable a cleaner production of PHA with consideration on conservation of natural resources and waste management.