Manure transformed into biodegradable plastic

The idea of drinking out of a plastic cup made from cow manure may not seem overly appetizing to some people.

“It’s not particularly appetizing to me either,” said Erik Coats, a University of Idaho civil engineering professor who is researching the chemistry of converting bio-waste into biodegradable plastic.

“The yuck factor is pretty strong.”

Coats’s 24-foot sanitary-white trailer, which serves as an experimental mobile plastic factory, converts 10 U.S. gallons of dairy slurry into China High Temperature hoses manufacturers five pounds of biodegradable plastic a day.

The trailer is located next to the university’s dairy barns and connected to them by a big hose. It is the only such research project in the United States.

The trailer’s 200 U.S. gallon fermentation tanks are the vital link between the laboratory test tubes of a couple years ago and the first million gallon tank needed for a full-scale commercial production, maybe a couple years into the future.

Coats’s bioplastic carries the scientific title polyhydroxyalkanoate but is more commonly referred to as PHA.

The material is as clear, flexible, scentless and tasteless as a plastic bread bag. There’s not the slightest hint it’s derived from cow manure.

However, to avoid unwanted marketing problems, Coats said his bioplastic won’t be used in food packaging.

“It’s strictly for single use applications like packaging or where a plastic cover must be biodegradable,” he said.

“I met recently with some folks who China Low Temperature hoses manufacturers treat seeds with nutrients and fungicides wrapped in a polymer coating. Our PHA is biodegradable so it’s perfect for something like that.”

In the agricultural sector, a biodegradable plastic might be suitable as bale wrap, baling twine, bags and liquid containers.

Nearly all plastic products are produced from petro-chemicals. Replacing them globally with PHA would go a long way toward relieving pressure on reserves of fossil fuels.

Some PHA products are made from corn, but the downside is that they keep corn out of the human and livestock food supply. Replacing those PHA items with manure-based PHA would be a positive move.