SBIR-STTR Award

In order to diversify agriculture and enhance agriculture's role as a reliable supplier of raw materials to industry, new biobased products from agricultural materials need to be developed. This proposal will prove the technical feasibility of producing a biobased natural plastic resin which can be economically blow molded into useful products. Metabolix will use a combination of its proprietary high molecular weight biobased polymers, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), in conjunction with novel reactive extrusion processes and polymer formulation technology to generate biobased PHA resins which can be economically blow molded into useful final products. Success in this endeavor will open up a large segment of the current thermoplastics market to biobased products. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of using Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a family of bioplastics made by the biological conversion of agricultural feedstocks, for blow molding applications by applying recent advances in PHA formulation and processing technology. A PHA formulation will be developed with the necessary rheological properties and crystallization behavior needed for blow molding operations. Once a satisfactory formulation is developed, laboratory blow molding trials will be conducted to confirm proper rheological behavior of the PHA formulation and physical properties of the molded part.

The widespread use of synthetic plastics has increased concerns over their adverse environmental impacts, and dramatic fluctuations in the cost and availability of petrochemical sources for plastic production creates the need for renewable, environmentally-friendly plastics derived from agricultural sources. Blow molded products are used widely in packaging, and are a major component of the plastics manufacturing industry that are suitable for replacement by biobased materials. This project will demonstrate the use of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a family of bioplastics made by the biological conversion of agricultural feedstocks, in commercial-scale blow molding manufacturing operations. Advances in PHA formulation and processing technology developed in Phase 1 of the project demonstrated the feasibility of blow molding PHAs at the lab-scale. In this program, PHA formulations will be improved with the necessary melt strength and crystallization behavior for blow molding operations using existing equipment at current production fficiencies, while providing the key physical properties needed in the blow molded part. Once satisfactory formulations are developed, pilot blow molding trials will be conducted to confirm proper rheological behavior of the PHA formulations and physical properties of the molded part. Metabolix will then demonstrate blow molding on commercial scale equipment running at typical manufacturing speeds.