Recipient Organization
METABOLIX, INC.
21 ERIE STREET
CAMBRIDGE,MA 02139-4260
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
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.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The objectives of this project are to develop biobased PHA resin formulations with processing properties suitable for blow molding and to produce a prototype blow molded product. Metabolix will use a combination of high molecular weight biobased PHAs, in conjunction with reactive extrusion processes, to create branched PHAs and will prepare prototype PHA formulations which can be economically blow molded into useful products. In Phase 2, these formulations will be further improved in conjunction with blow molding process optimization to achieve commercial line speeds and full end-use container properties. Success in this project will open up a large segment of the current thermoplastics market to biobased PHA products. The overall project has the following components: Optimize the process for producing the long chain branched PHAs; Characterize the rheological and crystallization properties of branched PHAs; Blend selected branched PHAs with linear PHAs; Characterize
the rheological, crystallization, and physical properties of blends; Blow mold a prototype container and evaluate its properties; Iterate based on the results. The work will be carried out by Metabolix and UMass-Lowell personnel. Metabolix will take the lead in polymer characterization, property modeling and formulation development. Polymer branching, compounding and blow molding will be a joint effort between Metabolix and UMass-Lowell at UMass-Lowell facilities.
Project Methods
The following tasks are critical to the successful development of PHA resin formulations suitable for blow molding and the production of blow molded products from biobased PHA polymers: 1.Synthesis and molecular characterization of branched PHAs; 2.Production and characterization of blends of linear and branched PHAs of varying molecular weights and compositions; 3.Formulation and blow molding of prototype container. Successful completion of these tasks will result in validation of the PHA blow molding process and yield a high degree of confidence that a Phase 2 program will be successful. Results obtained from Phase 1 of the program will form the basis for moving forward with formulations that have the desired elastic and viscous properties at the preferred processing conditions for PHAs. The work proposed in this project will use PHA polymer produced by Metabolixs microbial fermentation process. This material, estimated to be between 10 and 50 kg, will be provided as
an inkind contribution to the project by Metabolix. Upon the successful completion of this Phase 1 project, a Phase 2 project plan will be developed which will address the technical challenges for extending the range of products able to be blow molded using PHAs and obtain commercial line speeds. Metabolix will also identify the most promising marketing partners as a basis for developing the commercial plan during Phase 2 of this project, which will lead into the Phase 3 commercialization.