Cornmeal becomes biodegradable plastic paper

The white-washed corn starch is introduced into the process pipe at the feeding port on the third floor of the production plant, and is exported to the molding machine on the first floor. The biodegradable packaging material like paper can be used to produce a series of lunch boxes and cups. Disposables and packaging materials—A few days ago, in the production plant of starch-based biodegradable packaging materials of Donghua Donghua Co., Ltd., the author witnessed the process of producing “bio-degradable” plastic paper “corn flour”.

The production of biodegradable packaging materials has always been the focus of the packaging industry due to its outstanding environmental protection. In the international market, the demand for degradable packaging materials is very large. According to reports, as of 2002, the world production of biodegradable materials was only 40,000 tons. The China Biodegradable Materials Working Group (BMG) announced that only 10,000 tons of biodegradable materials were produced in China in 2003. This is far from meeting the needs of the international and domestic markets.

The total investment of the starch-based biodegradable packaging materials project built in Dongguang County is 628 million yuan, and the first-phase project investment is 200 million yuan. The bio-starch-based degradation packaging material uses maize and other crop starches as raw materials, and is made into a disposable tableware, packaging bags and other packaging materials through a series of processing, which can replace ordinary plastic packaging and is widely used in high-end disposable tableware and food packaging films. The packaging material produced from cornstarch is also called “corn plastic”. After being discarded, it can be completely decomposed by natural microorganisms and can be recycled. It can be applied as organic fertilizer to farmland without any pollution.

According to reports, this project belongs to the national “Agriculture income increase” project and the green ecological agriculture transformation environmental protection science and technology industrial project. Since the main raw material is corn starch, it can be degraded, and it can also save oil energy (an alternative product of the national petroleum by-product resources). At the same time, it will also greatly mobilize the enthusiasm of local farmers for growing grain. At present, the first phase of the project, which has been put into production, has an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons, annual consumption of corn starch from about 0.6 million tons to 0.7 million tons, and the entire process of closed, sterile, dust-free production.

According to the person in charge of the company, formerly domestic companies produced biodegradable plastics, a large number of which were compounded with polyethylene and starch (about 50% of starch raw materials) and degradable starch-based materials, and were not fully degradable and renewable materials. Therefore, the use of renewable starchy raw materials, through denaturation or fermentation to obtain new composites, is the focus of research and development of biodegradable materials at home and abroad, and the price between the plastic and paper products, has broad prospects for development.

Reprinted from: Hebei Daily