Ecofriendly green biodegradable polymers from Soy protein organoclay nanocomposites

Abstract

Petrochemical-based plastics dominate today s society because they are cheap, lucrative, colored, and lightweight; possess high strength; can be easily processed; and have good water-barrier properties. But most of these materials are non degradable, creating global environmental problems. Hence the persistence of plastics in the environment, the shortage of landfill space, concerns over emissions during incineration, entrapment, and ingestion hazards from these materials concerns that have spurred efforts to develop biodegradable plastics. The development of biodegradable plastics from renewable resources, to replace conventional synthetic plastic products, provides opportunities for reducing waste through biological recycling to the biosystem. The recent challenge is to design materials that exhibit structural and functional stability during storage, yet are susceptible to microbial and environmental degradation upon disposal without any adverse environmental impact newlineSoy bean products, both protein and oil, have attracted the attention of raw materials in recent years for making a multitude of eco-friendly plastic products because of the low cost, high purity and wide as well as easy availability world-wide. Recently, soy protein has been considered as an alternative to petroleum polymer in the field of adhesives, plastics and various moulded products. It is predicted that soy protein may revolutionize the biodegradable plastic industry in the 21st Century. newline Soy bean products are available commercially as defatted soy meal from oil industry. It is processed into three varieties of commercial soy-protein with varying protein contents namely soy protein isolate 90% (SPI), soy protein concentrates 60-72% (SPC) and soya-flakes 54%. Plastics made from soy protein are rigid and brittle,hence a plasticizer is required for making films and moulded plastic products by both compression and injection moulding processes. Soy protein may be an eco-friendly noble value added biodegradable material for engineering plastics.