Petroleum-Free Plastic Made from Smart Mud

5 by Becky Striepe on January 22, 2010

Could this mud volcano be a source for the plastic of the future?

About 4.6% of the petroleum we use in the U.S. goes into plastic production. The thing about plastics is that they're not all used to make food containers and cheap toys. There's plastic in all sorts of things that we rely on every day, from medical supplies to electronics. What if we could still make all of those useful products using just a fraction of petroleum?

According to a team of Japanese researchers, we might be able to do just that by combining clay, water, and a special thickening agent.

By combining small percentages of clay and less than half a percent of "organic compounds" in solution with water, Takuzo Aida and his team created a strong, self-healing plastic! The resulting material is called a hydrogel. According to the study, published in Nature:

This material can be moulded into shape-persistent, free-standing objects owing to its exceptionally great mechanical strength, and rapidly and completely self-heals when damaged.

The key ingredient in this plastic is sodium polyacrylate, a material that's super absorbent. It absorbs something like 300 times its weight in water.

Just because a compound is organic, though, doesn't mean it's safe. A little searching turned up sodium polyacrylate on this list of dangerous chemicals from Nature's Paradise. According to the list, the compound has "multiple additive exposure, endocrine system disruption and contamination concerns if not handled properly."

That said, the new plastic contains only a tiny percentage of the stuff, and I haven't been able to find any other mentions of concerns about this compound's safety.

The mud plastic isn't quite perfected yet. Aida and his team are still working out the proportions of water/sodium polyacrylate/clay, but they're sounding optimistic about where this is going:

With the world’s focus on reducing our dependency on fossil-fuel energy, the scientific community can investigate new plastic materials that are much less dependent on petroleum than are conventional plastics. Given increasing environmental issues, the idea of replacing plastics with water-based gels, so-called hydrogels, seems reasonable.

So what do you guys think? Is this a game-changing product, or do you have concerns?

I don't know about you guys, but all this plastic talk has this scene from The Graduate stuck in my head:

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by brunogirin

[Via Mother Jones]

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ted

the plastic we use now is toxic crap so whats the dif? i guess this stuff is 10 to 20 years away like a hydrogen economy.
Rebecca

A tiny percent might very well be too much, as with many other dangerous substances.
http://www.mediapalette.com Cally Wolk

Considering that there is an island of plastic twice the size of texas floating in the Pacific Ocean, there is no doubt we must find alternatives to petroleum-base plastic. The mud plastic and plastics produced from corn are going in the right direction…it’s the same old thing, us versus the petroleum conglomerate. Not supporting alternatives just exacerbates the status quo.
Major Blast

It has been known for over 70 years that “plastics” can be made from a variety of organic materials, that are non-toxic, renewable and biodegradeable. Just as with alternative organic sources of energy, Sun, Wind, Hydrogen, etc. These proven technologies have been denied public usage by a careful plan of misinformation from the wealthly elite who want their cake, and want to eat it too. The only way to make more money from a product, is to make it scarce. Therefore, pollution of air, water, ground, etc., is a profit margin waiting for exploitation. Of course the main sacarcity that would generate the largest profit, would be food. Thus, the rise of genetically engineered plants and the planned demise of the honey bee.
The NWO wants it all and unfortunately, are making dramatic progress. If we, the overwhelming majority, start standing up to be counted and make our voices heard, maybe the tide will turn in favor of reason, not profit, independence, not control, freedom, not salvery. For we are many, they are few………………………………………..