A novel and efficient method for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate polymer-based packaging from olive oil waste water

PONCE RIVAS ELIZABETH; CINELLI PATRIZIA; ALVAREZ VERA; BUGNICOURT ELODIE

Nuremberg

Conferencia; 29th Conference of the Polymer Processing Society (PPS29); 2013

The use of more sustainable materials in packaging is a key demand from the consumers while also a need for the producer in order to comply with waste reduction legislations. However, various factors generally limit the uptake of biopolymers such as processing difficulties, incompatibility at the natural fillers-polymeric matrices interface, poor mechanical properties, possible toxicity due to natural material degradation, moisture sensitivity, high raw material cost, etc. In contrast, among biogenic polyesters, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) have sufficient functional properties to replace some of the 250 MTs of plastics used worldwide today, especially in the packaging sector. Indeed these bio-polyesters maintain comparable performance with conventional fossil-based polymers, while keeping high biodegradability and versatility of derived formulations for a range of applications. The greatest challenge is in producing more cost effective and even more sustainable PHAs.