Agricultural film | materials feature The material was developed through the Thanaplast
project that Carbios coordinated. The challenge was to develop enzymes that could withstand the temperature of the extrusion process and remain active within the polymer matrix. The first objective was to apply it to PLA resin. The project identified several micro-organisms that
degrade PLA, which led to the selection of an appropriate enzyme. When the ‘PLA depolymerase’ was tested, only 2% of the enzyme made it through the extrusion process – but it was enough to degrade PLA into lactic acid.
Mulch analysis BASF says that its Ecovio can also be used as mulch film. Andreas Kuenkel, vice president of biopolymer research, told delegates that BASF has looked into how the material degrades. “There is strong stakeholder demand to elucidate
the fate of man-made materials introduced into the soil,” he said. He said the company had used a range of analytical
techniques to monitor how the degraded polymer worked its way into the soil. NanoSIMS was used to assess incorporation of
polymer carbon into the soil, for instance, while Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) tracks 12
C and 13
C-carbon dioxide. He also questioned the wisdom of recycling thin
mulch film: usually, he said, the weight of ‘contami- nants’ sticking to the film was heavier than the film itself. For thin mulch film, he said that attached soil was four times heavier than the film. He added that long-term used of thin PE mulch film
in China had led to a gradual reduction in cotton yields due to soil pollution – something that could be solved by using a biodegradable film like Ecovio, he said. The best solution, he said, was to combine thin
biodegradable mulch film with thick recyclable PE mulch film.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.amiplastics.com ❙
www.ril.com ❙
www.azpfl.com ❙
www.borouge.com ❙
www.nippon-gohsei.com ❙
www.cnep-ubp.com ❙
www.exxonmobilchemical.com ❙
www.braskem.com.br ❙
www.carbios.fr ❙
www.basf.com
New multi- layer film that
incorporates an insecticide layer could
help to protect maize crops in Tanzania
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