The presentation covers the concept of sustainability based on the three pillars and global drivers of sustainability, as well as industry's perspective on sustainable development and WBCSD's 2050 vision for sustainability. The perspectives on desired attributes of successful bioplastics as well as the challenges of current bioplastics will be discussed.Physical, chemical, and biochemical modification technologies were developed to transform various types of biomass accumulated in nature including cellulose, starch, plant proteins into usable thermoplastic materials. However, the thermoplastic natural polymers have deficiencies such as lacking performance, limited melt processability, and high costs, the thermoplastic biopolymers had to be further improved by processing with other polymers and modifiers to make them suitable for real-world applications. Biodegradable aliphatic polyesters such as polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and polypropylene carbonate (PPC) were also modified by chemical and physical methods to improve processability and/or performance.

Improving biomaterials through polymer processing technologies

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.