Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) has developed a ‘green plastic’ using the residues of bio-fuel, made from a tropical weed jatropha, reported Business Standard.
Earlier in January, CSMCRI, a Bhavnagar, Gujarat based research institute was granted with European patent for the bio-degradable plastic.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and CSMCRI have jointly started this research on ‘green plastic’ in 2005. This is the second phase of the project ‘Biofuels from eroded soils of India” under the sponsorship of Daimler Chrysler, Germany.
The green plastic already produced in the laboratory was distributed for research analysis and further study. Tests conducted have shown that they degrade in moist soil within three months.
Such plastics are suitable for automotive industry, to enhance the ‘green’ content of a car. However, no car manufacturer has shown interest for testing this green factor so far, reported agency quoting the scientists.
S Mishra, principal scientist, CSMCRI, said, “This research is on converting the bio-diesel residue to plastic. The idea of green plastic came from the concern to utilize crude glycerol obtained from Jatropha biodiesel.”
Meanwhile, the institute has been working on exploring the feasibility of developing micro algal bio-fuels from marine strain also. The significant advantage of micro algal is their faster growth rate and the ability to utilize seawater or polluted waste-water for growth.
The first phase of the project on “Biofuel from marine microalgae” was for developing a scalable process for producing biofuel from marine microalgae, added the news report.
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