According to the study carried out by the organization WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) based on research by the World Bank in 2019, Brazil is the fourth country in the world to produce the most plastic waste. Around 11 thousand tons of this type of waste are produced annually and only 1,28% is recycled in the country. Aiming to find an alternative to non-degradable plastic, researchers from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FEQ) and Food Engineering (FEA) at Unicamp, developed a biodegradable and edible plastic, composed of starch and gelatin.
Bioplastic is obtained through the extrusion process in which starch and gelatin are inserted into a machine, where they are subjected to high pressure, without adding any solvent. They then go through a blowing process, which gives the form of a biofilm. The development took place during researcher Farayde Matta Fakhouri's doctorate, supervised by professor Lucia Helena Inoocentini Mei, from FEQ, and professor Fernanda Paula Collares Queiroz, from FEA.
During his doctorate, and after extensive data searching in national and international repositories, Farayde identified that there were flexible bioplastics produced with other biodegradable polymers, but not blown only with edible materials. The absence of a product based on edible and non-toxic material led the researcher to seek the development of a process that would make this alternative viable. The positive results led to an unprecedented solution, based on starch and gelatin, which enabled the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency to request a patent from the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). “Our plastic is non-toxic and can be used in toys and children’s items after being sanitized. This way, if a child puts it in their mouth, there will be no problem”, explains teacher Lucia Mei.
Read article in full published on the website of the Innovation Agency - Inova Unicamp.
