Photos Not Just for the Sweet Stuff
Aug. 13, 2008 -- Totally recyclable waterproof paper and cardboard containers can be made using a new coating developed from sugarcane, say researchers. Organic chemist, Les Edye, and colleagues from the CRC for Sugarcane Innovation through Biotechnology in Brisbane, Australia say the coating could replace wax and plastic coatings currently used on fruit boxes and food and drink containers. "Wax-coated cardboard boxes, for example, used for packaging fruit aren't recyclable," he said. Conventional coatings like wax interfere with paper-making equipment, he explained. Edye and colleagues have developed a new coating from sugarcane lignin. Lignin is the rigid, waterproof "cement" that helps give plants their structural strength. In normal wood, pulping lignin is separated, leaving the flexible cellulose fibers from which paper is made. Bu the process chemically modifies lignin and changes its properties so it cannot be used as a coating. "We have a different kind of process for separating the sugarcane into its component parts so that the lignin is still useful," Edye said. The chemical process uses "green chemistry" and would not produce any waste. But Edye could not provide further details on the process due to commercial confidentiality. The researchers have produced a light brown spray-on lignin coating and tested it on a number of paper samples. The coating has been found to be "functionally equivalent" to wax coatings, but with obvious benefits. "It can be put back into the pulping process to make recycled paper," Edye said. "We also get the advantage of replacing a wax material from a petroleum resource, a finite resource, with biomass, a renewable resource." The CRC is currently discussing their technology with the packaging and paper industries. Related Links: |
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