Genetically Engineered Plants Grow Ingredients For Making Green Plastic
In a new breakthrough, scientists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Dow AgroSciences have engineered a relative of cabbage to create the raw material for producing plastics. The plants' seeds contain a type of fatty acid that could be used as a chemical building block for common plastics, the researchers say. Most plastic still comes from petroleum or coal, although plant-derived bioplastics are becoming more common. Many containers are now made of polylactic acid, a polyester derived from corn starch or sugar cane byproducts, for instance. But growing plastic precursor compounds inside plants could be even better - there would be no need to tap into the food supply to make to-go cups. Related ArticlesNew Plastic Conducts Heat Better Than Metals, But Only in One DirectionCan Plants Think?Best Recycling Ever: Turning Old Plastic Bags into Carbon NanotubesTagsScience, Rebecca Boyle, Arabidopsis, bioplastics, containers, plant biologist, plants, plastics, polyethylene plasticPlant biologists wanted to make plants...