In today's rapidly industrialized world, pursuing sustainable materials has become increasingly urgent.
An iPhone case printed with sustainable polyamide material. Image Credit: Lorenz Manker/EPFL
Plastics are a common material in daily life, but they present serious environmental problems because of their fossil fuel origins and difficult disposal.
Jeremy Luterbacher's team at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne (EPFL) has recently published a study that describes a novel method for creating high-performance plastics using renewable resources. The study, published in Nature Sustainability, presents a novel technique for using a sugar core made from agricultural waste to create polyamides, a class of plastics known for their strength and durability, of which nylons are the most well-known.
The new technique accomplishes this transformation effectively and with the least amount of environmental impact while utilizing a renewable resource.
Typical, fossil-based plastics need aromatic groups to give rigidity to their plastics – this gives them performance properties like hardness, strength, and high-temperature resistance. Here, we get similar results but use a sugar structure, which is ubiquitous in nature and generally completely non-toxic, to provide rigidity and performance properties.
Jeremy Luterbacher, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne
The study’s lead author, Lorenz Manker, and his associates created a catalyst-free method to produce high-grade polyamides from dimethyl glyoxylate xylose, a stabilized carbohydrate derived from biomass like wood or corn cobs. An astounding 97% of the starting material is utilized in the finished product, thus significantly reducing waste.
The qualities of the bio-based polyamides are comparable to those of their fossil counterparts, making them a viable substitute for a range of uses. Furthermore, the materials showed a great deal of resilience through several mechanical recycling cycles, keeping their integrity and functionality - an essential component in managing the lifecycle of sustainable materials.
These cutting-edge polyamides have a wide range of potential uses, from consumer products to automotive parts, all with a notably lower carbon footprint. According to the team's life-cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis, these materials have a 75% lower global warming potential than traditional polyamides like nylon (e.g., nylon 66) and could be priced competitively.
To get these materials onto the market, Bloom Biorenewables, an EPFL spin-off, is now scaling up production of these materials.
Journal Reference:
Manker, P. L., et al. (2024) Performance polyamides built on a sustainable carbohydrate core. Nature Sustainability. doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01298-7