INDEX
ABOUT
INTRODUCTION
THEORY
REQUIRMENTS
PROCEDURE
RESULT
CONCLUSION
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ABOUT
Aim: Making plastic from starch
Introduction:
Plastic pollution is currently one of the
biggest environmental concerns. Synthetic
plastics are made up of long chain
molecules (polymer) containing repeated
units of carbon atoms (monomer). These
synthetic polymers have extremely strong
carbon-carbon bonds with each other.
Because of this inherent molecular
stability, plastics do not break down into
simpler components easily. To find an
alternative to this problem, I made a
successful attempt to make a
biodegradable plastic. We say it is
biodegradable because natural organisms
are capable of breaking the material down
into smaller parts. We use starch polymer
(Amylose) which is biodegradable and
hence successfully converted to
replacement of plastic.
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THEORY
Why did we choose starch? Starch is
made of long chains of glucose
molecules joined together. Strictly, it
contains two polymers: amylose, which is
straight chained, and amylopectin, which
is branched. Glucose (simple sugar) is
essential for life, that being the reason
many organisms from bacteria to
humans break starch into simple sugar
(glucose). How it degrades into simple
sugar? Starch is a chain of simple sugar
monomers called glucose. The bonds
that connect them are called glycosidic
bonds. An enzyme called amylase helps
break sugar apart by fitting between two
monomers. A water molecule is absorbed
in order to break the glycosidic bond
between two monomers in a process
called hydrolysis.
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STRUCTURAL REPRESENTATION
IS AS BELOW
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REQUIREMENTS
Potato starch
Propan 1,2,3 triol (glycerol)
Hydrochloric acid
Sodium hydroxide
Spirit lamp
Tripod
Universal Indicator paper
Stirring rod
China dish
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PROCEDURE
Start the experiment by placing Tripod
over a Spirit lamp with a china dish
above it.
Add some water into the china dish.
Note: If too much water is used, the
polymer does not solidify and remains a
liquid.
Then add starch little by little with a
continuous stir. Avoid making air
bubbles.
Note: When starch is dried from an
aqueous solution, it forms hydrogen
bonding between the chains.
Add some HCl into the mixture.
Note: After step 3, however, the
amylopectin inhibits the formation of
the film. The addition of hydrochloric
acid breaks the amylopectin down,
allowing a more satisfactory film
formation.
Add 1,2,3-triol in a suitable amount.
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Note: The addition of propan-1,2,3-triol
has an effect because of its hygroscopic
(water-attracting) properties. Water
bound to the propan-1,2,3-triol gets in
amongst the starch chains and inhibits
the formation of crystalline areas,
preventing brittleness and resulting in
more plastic properties.
To neutralize HCl, add some NaOH
into it.
After you observe it forming like
plastic film or Vaseline-like gel, lay it
down on a flat surface.
Spread it into a long sheet of desired
thickness.
Let it dry properly for at least an
hour.
Peel it out from the surface. And your
plastic is formed.
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CONCLUSION
Thus we obtain a fair-looking plastic.
Things that could be done better is to
smooth out the plastic properly once
it’s prepared, and a little food color can
be added for good appearance.
RESULT
We obtained a plastic piece which
demonstrates that starch can be used to
make plastic.
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