&EPA
www.epa.gov
science in ACTION
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS
PLASTICS FROM WASTEWATER
GROWING AMERICA'S GREEN ECONOMY WITH RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
2008 EPA P3 Award Winner
They say you are what you eat, but
soon the container you are drinking
from might be made from what you
digested! Just as we can produce
fuels from bio-waste, a team of
students hopes to produce plastics on
a production scale from sewae
The team from University of
California Davis was a winner of
EPA's P3 Award for a laboratory
scale version of this process. The
process not only uses wastes for raw
materials, but also will decrease the
amount of waste that needs to be
treated and disposed.
Their initial goal was to figure out if
a Polyhydroxyalkanoate (called
PHAs and PHBs) production process
could be integrated into a specific
Waste Water Treatment Plant
(WWTP). UC Davis did this by
running a number of bench-top
reactions on site specific waste and
creating a pilot plant design. The
team is well on their way to meeting
their P3 Phase 2 goals which are to
operate a pilot-scale process at an
existing wastewater treatment plant,
develop operational criteria for a
full-scale system; secure patents and
commercialize the technology.
The team recently started their own
company called Micromidas which
will use bugs (microbes) to digest
the sewage sludge into plastic. The
company located in West
Sacramento, currently employs 10
full-time workers and six interns.
Their main task is to screen for
productive microbes that will make a
lot of plastic under certain
conditions. "We take millions (of)
bacteria out of a pond," Micromidas
CEO John Bissell said. "There are
certain characteristics that bacteria
have to have to be PHA-producing
bacteria. We apply selective
conditioning so only those bacteria
can survive." Currently they can
create a kilo of PHA in five to six
days with an "unfinalized" microbe
mix.
Bissell claims that their plastic is
non-toxic and unlike petroleum-
based plastics that can take many
centuries to degrade, PHA-based
plastics are completely
biodegradable in land and water.
Micromidas also states that objects
manufactured out of PHA are also
biocompatible, gradually breaking
down harmlessly within the body
causing no damage or inflammation.
This feature could open up a wide
range of industrial applications, such
as medical sutures, tissue repair
devices, and other biomedical uses.
PHA based plastic has superior
physical characteristics over most
bioplastics produced today from
Poly lactic acid orPLA. One of those
characteristics is a higher melting
point. PHA is sold in pellets and can
produce anything that can fit into a
thermal injection mold. Micromidas
is currently discussing their product
with companies like Johnson and
Johnson, Pepsi and Nestle. Bissell
says their microbe formula is ready
for scale up towards commercial
production.
Total EPA Investment
$85,000
Return on EPA Investment
Company established that currently
employs 10 employees and 6 interns.
Company growth rate in Jan 2010 is
exponential: staff is doubling every 4
months.
OTHER AWARDS
Cleantech Open Award
OTHER LINKS:
EPA Project reports:
http ://www.epa. gov/ncer/plastic
Micromidas:
http://www.micromidas.com
EPAP3site:
http://www.epa.gov/P3
CONTACT: Cynthia Nolt-Helms, EPAP3
Program Manager, (202) 343-9693
nolt-helms.cvnthia(5)epa.gov
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
-------
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
-------
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
------- |