Advances in chemistry and chemical engineering continue to offer paths for replacing petroleum with corn as a feedstock for plastics. By using a renewable source (corn) instead its oil-based counterpart, the research could reduce the environmental impact of plastic, both in the making and its disposal.
At 2019 MN Ag EXPO in Mankato, researchers with the University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Polymers showed off the intriguing results of scientific work supported by the Minnesota Corn Growers Association and the Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council.
Among the new avenues of investigation: methods to make the corn-based bioplastic PLA even more useful by making it a more pliable plastic. Literally billions of bushels of corn consumption could result from a new approach to the conversion of lactic acid into acrylic acid through an ingenious method of dehydration. The project would introduce corn into a number of everyday products.