Page 65 - Plastics News December2018

TECHNOLOGY

Brazilian students develop Researchers in NUS develop
‘Plasticor’- a new bioplastic aerogel from recycled PET

team of students at the Federal University of Rio echanical engineering researchers at the National
A de Janeiro, campus of Duque de Caxias (UFRJ/ MUniversity of Singapore (NUS), led by Associate
DC), Brazil, have formed a start-up in which they have Professor Hai Minh Duong and Professor Nhan Phan-
developed a new bioplastic packaging called Plasticor, Tien, in collaboration with Dr Xiwen Zhang from
which gives alert by changing color on spoilage of packed the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology
food. Plasticor packaging contains a biosensor capable of (SIMTech) under the Agency for Science, Technology and
sensing the quality of food and indicating the quality of Research (A*STAR), have pioneered the technology to
food if unfit for use. Change of color is a good indicator fabricate the world’s first polyethylene terephthalate
for better management of food consumption, by giving (PET) aerogels from recovered plastic. According to
NUS ,the team says it took two years to develop a
“simple, cost-effective and green method” that can
convert PET bottles into an A4-sized PET aerogel sheet
that can be used in a variety of applications. The PET
aerogels are soft, flexible, durable, extremely light and
easy to handle, according to the researchers. They also
demonstrate superior thermal insulation and strong
absorption capacity. “These properties make them
attractive for a wide range of applications, such as for
heat and sound insulation in buildings, oil spill cleaning
and also as a lightweight lining for firefighter coats and
carbon dioxide absorption masks that could be used
preference to those whose expiration is closer, plus during fire rescue operations and fire escape,” the
ensuring the reliability of expired foods that can still be researchers add. The researchers have filed a patent for
consumed safely.The multi-disciplinary team comprising
of students from different fields including biotechnology,
nanotechnology, biophysics and marketing, polymer
science PhD student and a designer have worked on the
unique development.
The team bagged the best project award from a 2017
Hackathon entrepreneurship event organized by UFRJ/
DC students and by Sebrae, a non-profit private entity
in Brazil that promotes the sustainable and competitive
development of small businesses. Balbino, one of the
members of the team, said, “Our packaging is eco-friendly
because it doesn’t use chemical additives and doesn’t their PET aerogel technology and say they will continue
take years to degrade.” The team has continued their to enhance the aerogel’s performance and explore new
efforts to improve the product. The number of steps are applications. They also express an interest to work
still to be taken which include further tests required to with companies to bring the technology to market.
scale up production, to formalize the start-up and obtain Eco-aerogels structures are stable over 6 months in
certification from the Ministry of Agriculture and the tropical climate. They have been demonstrated for the
Sanitary Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) needed before the first time to be highly compressible. Super-hydrophilic
product is brought to the market. The team is now keen aerogels can be converted into super-hydrophobic ones
to produce it on a mass scale and take it to market. The by simply coating MTMS at 70°C for 3 hrs.
team has set up a crowdfunding campaign on a platform
called Kickante and is looking for investors.

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67 December 2018 Plastics News