Progress 09/01/21 to 08/11/23

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience includes farmers who cannot afford the cost and performance of current technologies mulch films. The aging population of farmers who would appreciate help by avoiding the "after harvest" film collection and disposal. Commercial growers who need to increase crop yields, save water, fertilizer and energy. Improved environmental health and prevention of plastics pollution would relate to wider audience. Changes/Problems: Our only problem is a misalignment of the Board Directors on the future of the company. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Graduate student and laboratory technician were trained on product development workflow from raw materials sourcing to formulation to compounding to converting to testing and reporting; biodegradation testing protocols; laboratory safety; data management with MS excel. Lab technician was also trained on website development/programming. Scientist has attended 3 conferences and reported back to the team on advancements in the area of bioplastics, biobased and biodegradable materials, including those for Agricultural applications. Provided by the conferences slides where shared and discussed with the team. The sales manager has attended multiple tradeshows and conferences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The testing results are presented at the conferences, standardization committees, at the Radical Plastics website (www.radical-plastics.com). The team is working with multiple farmers and growers, with growers associations as shares data with them. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We need to learn about long-term mulch film performance. It requires at least 2 years since application of mulch films. We will need to finalize the business model, define a customer - would it be end users and distributors. In this case the final product would be a film. If the customer would be film extruders, then we would sell compounded pellets of concentrates. We are working with a standartization committee of ASTM to introduce new biodegradation and microplastics standards.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Analyze the film performance from 2021 field studies: physical properties, crop yields, geographies, soil specifics, performance vs competing films Status: completed Goal 2: Achieve capability to increase the scale of manufacturing runs. Address issues of consistency in mineral supply and final film properties. Develop a qualification process to qualify 1 ton batches of the mineral at a time. Conduct larger pilot scale manufacturing and field testing: in 2021 produce at least 5000 lbs of mulch film and at least 20,000 lbs in 2022 Status: 5,000 lbs of mulch film was produced in 2021, and over 2x more of film (45,000 lbs) was manufactured in 2022 for the 2023 agricultural season. We have addressed the feedbacks from the farmers and testing partners: increased the impact strength of the film from under 30g to 114 g (about 4 times!) and reduced the time to degradation from about 6 +/- 0.5 months to about 4 +/- 0.5 months based on the climating conditions in Massachusetts. Goal 3: Confirm full biodegradability in soil using EN ISO 17556 standard and that it takes under 2 years to reach full biodegradability (EN ISO17033). Status: The respirometry testing is still on-going as well as the field testing for residual microplastics in the soil. The testing procedure for this up to 2 year long soil biodegradation test needed to be refined a few times to optimise the soil C/N ratios, moisture levels, concentration of plastic, types of positive controls. We have used maple leaves and certified biodegradable oxidized polyethylene waxes as positive controls in addition to micronised cellulose. The data after 1 year of testing looks very good - better than earlier technologies. Goal 4: Confirm ecological safety. Run all referenced in EN17033 standard ecotoxicity-related tests. Demonstrate no formation of microplastics. Eco toxicity tests we passed (LMPE data): Ecotoxicological tests against different organisms of trophic level: 1.Vibrio fischerilight emission inhibition - test on luminescent bacteria per EN ISO 11348-3:2019, 48 hrs test. 2. Acute toxicity test with crustaceans -Daphnia magna- 48 hrs per OECD Guideline n. 202: 2004 3. Fresh water green algae growth inhibition - 72 hrs per OECD Guideline n. 201:2011 4. Acute toxicity test with worms -Eisenia fetida- 14 days per ISO11268:1:2012 Ecotoxicological tests against terrestrial plants: Eluate effect on plant germination and growth (19 days) LMPE in-house test, very close to OECD208: Tall fescue (Festuca Arundinacea), San Marzano tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), Rio Grande tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) and Cress (Lepidium sativum) Microplsetics testing - Initial analysis of the microplstics in the soil after the 2022 growth season is also very encouraging - 9 months and 1 week after initial mulch film approcation there is no Radical Plastics microplastics detected. Goal 5: Develop supply chain. Qualify materials for 2021-2023 film manufacturing. Qualify manufacturing partners' processing capabilities. Status: completed for the current and forecasted volumes of production. Primary and secondary supply sources for all raw materials were idenditied including biobased, petroleum based and recycled sources of polymers. Mineral processing, plastic compounding, film blowing and other steps of operations are scaled up to support the forecasted volumes of production. Goal 6: Improve lab capabilities to support further R&D efforts. Set up thermogravimetric analysis to confirm the mineral loading in final product, develop product data sheets, select reportable properties and setup the QC system. Status: Thermogravimetric analysis capabilities have been implemented. Initial product datasheets and specifications are created. Goal 7: Build commercialization plan Status: completed for the current and forecasted business plan. We are still considering two possible business models when we sell mulch film as a final product vs when a compounded prodyct is sold to film manufacturers and distributed through their channells. Goal 8: For the 2022 growth season, manufacture at least 10,000 lbs of 20-25 µm black mulch film with "locked in" formulation and tested performance. Status: the formulation would be locked after the feedback of the 2023 film performance as we have made improvements for the 2023 spting season and need to collect feedbacks and all performance data to support the formulation before it is "locked". Goal 9: Define mechanisms of early sales, build a customer pipeline; finalize marketing communications plan. Status: Based on sales revenues produced by selling the film to farmers or distributors vs selling compounds to film extruders, significant advantages of the former approach were realized. We are still pursuing the market in parallel, but will down select the approach based on the 2023 feedbacks. Goal 10: Submit reports, presentations. File additional IP Status: we have now 7 issued patents around the soil-biodegradable film and are nationalizing the patents in other countries

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Y. Kann, World Materials Forum, Nancy, France, June 16-18 2022, Biomaterials Session, Radical Plastics solution to plastics sustainability
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Y. Kann, Polymers 2022 - New Trends in Polymer Science: Health of the Planet, Health of the People. Biodegradable plastics: revisiting the science and offering a new sustainable solution
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: MIT Sustainability Conference, ILP Workshop: Designing Plastics for End-of-Life to Enable Circularity, Panel discussions

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience includes farmers who cannot afford the cost and performance of current technologies mulch films. The aging population of farmers who would appreciate help by avoiding the "after harvest" film collection and disposal. Commercial growers who need to increase crop yields, save water, fertilizer and energy. Improved environmental health and prevention of plastics pollution would relate to wider audience. Changes/Problems:The co-PI, Kristin Taylor, has left the company in June of 2022. Radical Plastics also got an approval from NIFA USDA (May 2022) to contract a Business Development/Sales specialist and to include Rutgers University, Prof. Bill Sciarappa in contractors to run the field test with the mulch film in 2022 and 2023. We have rebalanced our budget to address higher shipping costs and to divert the costs for the graduate student as he became a full-time employee starting the last week of June of 2022. We have also replaced a consultant as we found the one with much more relevant expertise (approved by NIFA USDA). The challenge still remains on the side of the mineral processing. We are qualifying different milling/classification processes and evaluating the feedstocks of the mineral (water slurries, powders, wet cake, etc). There seems to be a limited amount of the contract manufacturers able to process the mineral for us. We might need to purchase the milling equipment and run operations ourselves. We do not have the budget for this yet. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate student and laboratory technician were trained on product development workflow from raw materials sourcing to formulation to compounding to converting to testing and reporting; biodegradation testing protocols; laboratory safety; data management with MS excel. Scientist has attended 2 conferences and reported back to the team on advancements in the area of bioplastics, biobased and biodegradable materials, including those for Agricultural applications. Provided by the conferences slides where shared and discussed with the team. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The testing results are presented at the mentioned conferences, at the Radical Plastics website (www.radical-plastics.com). The team is working with multiple farmers and growers as well as with Western Growers Association as shares data with them. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We still have to learn about long-term mulch film performance and collect new data for 2022 films. We initiated collaboration with Rutgers University to quantify the film performance, including physical properties, weed suppression, water retention, fertilizer retention, crop yield (hot and Bell peppers), quality of crops. Beneficial microbial populations are measured by the CO2 soil respiration test, and leaf chlorophyll analysis/SPAD serves as an indicator of nutrient uptake. University of KY is also running a field trial with Radical Plastics mulch films for the production of cabbage. The use of fumigants is investigated in addition to the metrics from the Rutgers University. Additional 17,000 lbs of compound are planned to be made in the fall of 2022 and converted to black mulch films for the watermelon planting in Q4'22 and in vegetables production in Q1, Q2'2023. Supply chain issues including the processing of the mineral need to be addressed. Qualification processes for the incoming raw materials final products need to be developed, specifications and data sheets confirmed. Logistics should be defined - where to build operations for the mineral processing and compounding. Proofs of performance and compliance with required standards/certifications need to be addressed. Final product (compounded pellets or films), business model, commercialization plan need to be confirmed. Pipeline of customers needs to be built, as well as the sales mechanisms (short term and long term sales).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1:Analyze the film performance from 2021 field studies: physical properties, crop yields, geographies, soil specifics, performance vs competing films. Status: partial information is received. Longer term performance (soil biodegradability, soil quality) is still being analyzed. Goal 2: Achieve capability to increase the scale of manufacturing runs. Address issues of consistency in mineral supply and final film properties. Develop a qualification process to qualify 1 ton batches of the mineral at a time. Conduct larger pilot scale manufacturing and field testing: in 2021 produce at least 5000 lbs of mulch film and at least 20,000 lbs in 2022 Status: 5,000 lbs of mulch film has been produced in 2021. Physical properties have been approved by the testing partners. In 2022 we have produced 3,000 lbs in January, but are planning to make additional 17,000 lbs in September. Mineral supply is still challenging, but we are working on the processing options. Goal 3: Confirm full biodegradability in soil using EN ISO 17556 standard and that it takes under 2 years to reach full biodegradability (EN ISO17033). Status: The respirometry testing (ISO 17556) is still ongoing as well as the field testing. Goal 4: Confirm ecological safety. Run all referenced in EN17033 standard ecotoxicity-related tests. Demonstrate no formation of microplastics. Status: Some required ecotoxicity tests are completed (i.e. Green algae growth inhibition, monocotyledon, dicotyledon growth, germination, Daphnia magna mobility inhibition, Earthworms, 14 days). We will run extended earthworms test (up to 56 days) in late 2022-eary 2023. Goal 5: Develop supply chain. Qualify materials for 2021-2023 film manufacturing. Qualify manufacturing partners' processing capabilities. Status: in progress. Identifying primary and secondary supply sources, planning supply quantities, price, warehousing, logistics Goal 6: Improve lab capabilities to support further R&D efforts. Set up thermogravimetric analysis to confirm the mineral loading in final product, develop product data sheets, select reportable properties and setup the QC system. Status: Thermogravimetric analysis capabilities have been implemented. Initial product datasheets and specifications are created. Goal 7: Build commercialization plan Status: in progress. Goal 8: For the 2022 growth season, manufacture at least 10,000 lbs of 20-25 µm black mulch film with "locked in" formulation and tested performance. Status: confirming the formulation which will be "locked" for the September scale up run. Goal 9: Define mechanisms of early sales, build a customer pipeline; finalize marketing communications plan. Status: in progress Goal 10: Submit reports, presentations. File additional IP Status: in progress @font-face { panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-alt:"?? ??"; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic- mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 134217746 0 131231 0;}@font-face { panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic- mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face { panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic- mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}@font-face { panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic- mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 134217746 0 131231 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; ; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast- mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi- mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}p {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; ; mso-fareast-}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast- mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi- mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Y. Kann, World Materials Forum, Nancy, France, June 16-18 2022, Biomaterials Session, Radical Plastics solution to plastics sustainability
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Y. Kann, Polymers 2022 - New Trends in Polymer Science: Health of the Planet, Health of the People. Biodegradable plastics: revisiting the science and offering a new sustainable solution