Progress 07/15/20 to 03/14/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience includes farmers and industrial growers producing crops benefiting from the mulch film utilization for weed control, pest control, soil solarization, etc. and who cannot afford the cost and performance of current technology mulch films. The aging population of farmers who cannot afford used film collection and transportation to the incineration or landfilling cites. Commercial growers who are driven by desire to increase crop yields, save water,fertilizer usage and energy. Improved environmental health and plastics pollution prevention would relate to many concerned people and associations/foundations. Changes/Problems:The respirometry, soil microbial and plant toxicity testing were all delayed due to the problems with COVID-related closings and difficulty scheduling the third party testing labs. We expect to have the ecotoxicity data based on the tests listed below by the Mid. March 2021. Test on luminescent bacteria ISO11348-3:2019 Acute toxicity with Crustaceans OECD n. 202:2004 Fresh water algae growth inhibition OECD n. 201:2011 Biological assay with worms ISO11268-1:2012 Plant germinaiton and growing in-house LMPE test Soil quality, microplastics in-house LMPE test What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The polymer scientists and engineers on the project had a chance to learn how the mulch film is used in the field and what kind of materials related problems the farmers have. The other potential applications for biodegradable agricultural films were identified. The plastics engineering student from UMass Lowell had a training and hands on experience in operating the compounding extruder and compression molding press at the time when education is remote. The same student and the technical personal were given an access and training to use the Instron testing equipment to measure the properties of the film, to use IR spectroscopy and luminescence tester to assess chemical conversion and degree of degradation. The technical personal continues learning about the soil respirometry testing methods (attended ASTM training) to address the biodegradation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Radical Plastics progress is discussed with supporting universities (University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of Connecticut, UC Berkley Haas School, Endicott College, Alfred State College, Cornell University and Agricultural College, University of Florida Live Oak) and participating farmers and industrial growers. The part time student is inspired to take the 2d major in business administration. Radical Plastics is working with the graduate students from UC Berkley Haas School of business to develop technoeconomic modeling, marketing strategy and commercialization approaches. The undergraduate students from the local Endicott College and undergraduate and graduate students in plastics engineering from UMass Lowell work with Radical Plastics on a weekly basis: learn about biodegardble plastics, test recyclability of Radical Plastics materials. Some local farmers were given the mulch films produced by Radical Plastics to learn about their performance and biodegradation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Eco- toxicity is still in progress and we expect to have initial data by February 2021. The pre-testing for EN17033 is also under way - we expect to have significant progress by the end of phase I of this SBIR. We are starting our work with LARTA on the commercialization efforts. We are developing an additional product to accelerate the degradation in the field. It could be applied in a form of water based slurry to the areas less exposed to the UV and high temperature after the harvesting. Radical Plastics will also have an in-house respirometry testing. Access to respirometry was a major obstacle for this year - we decided to learn as much as possible about the testing and set it up in our lab to expedite development. Radical Plastics plans to build an in-house capability to run a dart impact test required for EN17033 compliance. It is a simple test which can be set up according to the test instructions and would provide us with required comparative data.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1-2. The total of 3,000 lbs of mulch film was produced: 3 initial rolls 21"x 600 feet (gen.1) and 25 rolls 24" x 1000feet (gen.2). The gen. 2 black mulch film at 25 microns thickness (1mil) produced required balance of properties: 6+/-1 months lifetime, tensile strength >=16 MPa and required opaqueness. 3. Performance of the mulch film in the field was assessed at 5 locations within the US: Florida, California, upstate New York, Massachusetts and Maine. The grown crops were: watermelons in FL, onions and tomatoes in CA, onion and squash in NY, tomatoes and garlic in MA, onions and eggplants in ME. According to the farmers, the application of the film with regular laying equipment was easy, which is not the case with competing starch based biodegradable alternatives. The weeds suppression and resistance to tearing was also much more superior for the Radical Plastics films. There was no adhesion of the film to the watermelons and vegetables grown on the Radical Plastics film. Some of the farmers (CA and MA) asked for more film and can be considered as "returning customers". 4. The soil and plant ecotoxicity in the lab is still being tested. There was no noticeable problems with plants health in the field. 5. Accelerated testing correlating with outdoors exposure has been developed. The best correlation was achieved with ASTM D5071, cycle D with Xenon light source and a combination of light and dark cycles involving condensation. 6. Pre-screening for ISO EN17033 is under way at Impact Solutions, UK.

Publications

Progress 07/15/20 to 02/16/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience includes: Farmers and industrial growers, utilizing mulch films in the production of vegetables, fruits, berries or other crops. Mulch film is used for the weed and pest control, early season crop production, soil solarization. It increases yields, saves water, energy, and fertilizer. In addition to the above, biodegradable mulch saves removal labor and transportation costs, preserves the top soil and reduces GHG emissions; Farmers who cannot afford the cost of the mulch film, its removal and transportation to incineration or landfilling cites; Farmers who do not like performance of the current technology biodegradable mulch films (not consistent biodegradation, difficult storage, poor water retention, poor strength, etc) The aging population of farmers whophysically cannot collect the used mulch film; Growers, associations and foundations concerned about the soil and environmental health and the soil or marine plastic pollution, including microplastics Changes/Problems:We should be able to report the initial toxicity data in mid. March 2021. This is a 2 mo delay vs what was envisioned in the beginning of the project. We expect to get the following data: Toxicity Test on luminescent bacteria ISO11348-3:2019 Acute toxicity with Crustaceans OECD n. 202:2004 Fresh water algae growth inhibition OECD n. 201:2011 Biological assay with worms ISO11268-1:2012 Plant germinaiton and growing in-house, LMPE lab Soil quality, microplastics in-house, LMPE lab What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The polymer scientists and engineers on the project had a chance to learn how the mulch film is used in the field and what kind of materials-related problems the farmers face. The other potential applications for biodegradable agricultural films were identified. The plastics engineering student from UMass Lowell had training and hands on experience in operating the compounding extruder and compression molding press at the time when education was remote. The same student and the technical personal were given an access and training to use the Instron testing equipment to measure physical properties of the film, to use IR spectroscopy and luminescence tester to assess chemical conversion and degree of degradation. The technical personal continues learning as going through setting up the respirometry testing to address the biodegradation. The group of graduate students at the UC Berkley HAAS school of business ran the marketing study for the agricultural biodegradable plastics, which was very useful to both the students, and the Radical Plastics team. The Radical Plastics team has attended 2 webinars offerred by LARTA and works with LARTA on business development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Radical Plastics progress is discussed with supporting universities (University of Connecticut, UC Berkley Haas School, Endicott College, Alfred State College, Cornell University and Agricultural College, University of Florida Live Oak) and participating farmers and industrial growers. Radical Plastics has joined the Western Growers Association to be able to communicate with and present to the growers. The team was invited to present at the AMI agricultural films conference in August of 2021, where we plan to discuss our mulch film development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We should be able to report the toxicity data by the mid. March 2021. We also have developed a tech readiness plan, which could be implemented in phase 2 of USDA NIFA SBIR. This would include: -scaling up compounding and film extrusion to understand at-volume costs to produce the film. This would help us understand the price structure and define the channels to market; - complete the 2 year study per ISO 17033 to confirm the soil/plant health and absense of microplastics in the soil. Radical Plastics would need to set up our internal respirometry tests to test different formulations. Other analytical tests would also accelerate the development cycle if we have the required equipment in-house. We would like to develop additional products, including mineral based slurries, to remediate soils contaminated with previously applied non-biodegradable films or plastic waste.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1-2. The total of 3,000 lbs of mulch film was produced: 3 initial rolls 21"x600 feet (gen.1) and 25 rolls 24"x1000feet (gen.2). The gen. 2 black mulch film at 25microns thickness (1mil) produced required balance of properties: 6+/-1 months lifetime, tensile strength >=16 MPa and required opaqueness. 3. No mulch film adgesion to the crops was observed. 4. Very high yield of watermelons (about 70,000 lbs per acre) was achieved. The yields of other crops grown in different locations were also very good. The soil and plants looked very healthy through out the growing cycle, similar to those grown under non-biodegradable PE mulch. The plant development, inclding roots, leaves, overall weights looked very good. The laboratory data for toxicity is expected within the next 3 weeks, which includes test on luminescent bacteria, worms, fresh water algae growths and other. 5. Correlation of accelerated testing with outdoors exposure has been developed. The best correlation was achieved with ASTM D5071, cycle D conditions with Xenon light source and a combination of light and dark cycles involving condensation. 6. Pre-screening for ISO EN17033 has started on October 2, 2020. Expecting the first report in mid. April, 2021.

Publications