“Corn Plastic” New Technology

Shanghai Tongji University and a biological sci-tech company
have jointly developed a new plastics called “corn plastics”.
   Lactic acid is extracted from corn through bacterial
fermentation. Lactic acid is then processed into polylactic acid
to get plastisc. Polylactic acid called “corn plastics” can
be decomposed into carbon dioxide and water by microorganisms
in the natural world without pollution to environment. It can
also be used as organic fertilizer to act as plant nutrition in
farmlands. It is therefore regarded as the terminator of “white
pollution”.
   According to Prof. Ren Jie, Vice President of the Material
and Science Engineering School of Tongji University, the raw
material for polylactic acid is not limited to corn. Many other
crops can also be used to extract lactic acid. It is therefore
more proper to call polylactic acid “biomass plastics”.
   The ex-factory price of this plastic is around RMB10 000 per
ton, close to the price of chemical plastic granules today.