Plastic has become a big threat to environment. In order to reduce the usage of plastic and replace it with sustainable products, many industries are looking into the possibilities of bio-degradable plastic alternatives. One such company that is working towards replacing plastics with cassava starch biodegradable bags is KRP Industries. Bio-degradable bags are made from cassava starch which is a naturally occurring polysaccharide extracted from cassava roots.
Here's how you can make these bio-degradable bags at home:
One of the most searched topic and a hot debate across the globe today is how to subtract plastic and introduce alternatives for replacing plastics. This is because plastics are a major pollutant, non-biodegradable and can be harmful to the environment and marine life.
Plastic bags are one of the most commonly used products in households that we all depend on day-in and day-out! They make our lives easier, but at what cost? These bags cause environmental damage when they enter into landfills or oceans where they are not biodegradable.
With more awareness being raised regarding this issue, people have been looking for solutions on how they can stop using such harmful materials like plastic bags by finding alternative options instead.
The leading bio-plastics producer and exporter in India, KRP Industries has always been at the forefront towards setting up more such bio-degradable plastic plants across India. Here is a small step by step guide to create bio-degradable bags from cassava starch:
The first step in making bio-degradable bags from cassava starch is hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is the process of breaking down starch into smaller molecules using water and heat. The hydrolysis process must be carried out at high temperature and pressure, because this will ensure that oxygen does not enter the mixture during the reaction.
Cassava starch has to undergo hydrolysis, which breaks down the rigid polymer chains of starch into smaller fragments that can be fermented.
The resulting sugar may then be used to make ethanol, which can be distilled to produce PHA.
Fermentation involves the presence of yeast and bacteria to convert glucose into ethanol. It is done in a controlled environment where the temperature is raised to about 30°C for about 24 hours. The fermentation process occurs in two phases:
Primary fermentation happens when the glucose solution, known as “wort”, which contains sucrose from cassava and water is added with yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae). This enables the conversion of sugars into alcohols and carbon dioxide gas by yeast cells at a high rate (up to 15% per hour). This phase takes about 4 hours in total but it also depends on environmental factors like temperature and pH level. After completion of primary fermentation, you should add more water so that your solution becomes diluted enough while keeping its consistency intact. This step helps prevent any further side effects caused by excessive concentrations of sucrose or other materials present in your cassava bags during secondary fermentation process which might otherwise form harmful compounds such as methanol if left unchecked by dilution procedure mentioned above
The next step is to purify the PHA. The process includes three steps:
If you have done all the above steps, you will get a bio-degradable bag made from cassava starch. Now you need to scale up production and supply it to the market.
Replacing plastics with bio-degradable plastic is one of the need of the hour.
Plastics have become a major threat to the environment. They are non-biodegradable, nonrecyclable and also not biodegradable as well. So, they cannot be used again after they are disposed off. And because they remain in landfills for so long, they contaminate soil and water bodies which eventually start affecting our health too!
We hope that this post helped you in understanding how to make bio-degradable bags from cassava starch. The entire process is quite simple and easy to understand but will take some time to implement on a large scale. If you have any queries regarding this article or if there are any doubts regarding the steps mentioned above then feel free to reach out at info@krpindia.com