Making sustainable plastics more competitive by improving their performance

Eliminating persistent plastic waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the plastic industry will require new materials that are renewable, degradable, low-cost, and performant. Although the polymer industry has made progress with renewable and degradable materials, their thermomechanical properties often fall short compared to non-degradable, petrochemical plastics, limiting competitiveness in the market.

This project aims to make sustainable plastics more competitive by removing their performance weaknesses. The team will start by improving the performance of PLA, which is the largest renewable and degradable polymer by volume, but limited in its applications by its brittleness. The team has developed a copolymer of PLA incorporating a small amount of another bio-based monomer that removes its brittleness while retaining strength and thermal properties. The project will scale the production of this material and evaluate performance for applications that cannot be served by PLA today. If successful, this strategy will be expanded to address the performance deficiencies of other renewable and degradable polymers, ultimately promoting greater adoption of sustainable materials in high-volume applications.