This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project targets the design and engineering of biodegradable starch biofoam materials for protective cushion packaging and thermal insulation (coolers) market. These new biobased foam materials are expected to displace petro/fossil-based materials used currently in these applications. Previous feasibility demonstration has: (a) established the manufacturability of modified starch biofoams with good moisture resistance, strength, resilience and surface uniformity; and (b) validated the applicability of these biofoam materials in the protective cushion packaging and thermal insulation (coolers) market sectors by major industrial users. The Phase II project will build on these successes and develop robust and cost-effective manufacturing and optimized formulations for broader and greater penetration of the $2.6 billion foam packaging market. The technical advancements implied in this research are expected to significantly accelerate the development of a broader range of bio-plastic products based on bio/renewable feedstocks for successful commercial deployment.
The broader/commercial impact of this project is that it addresses the growing pressures on companies and countries to reduce their carbon footprint, and provide for environmentally responsible and efficacious end-of-life options. The U.S. Government's BioPreferred program identifies biobased, biodegradable foams with minimum 50% biobased content as one of the targeted items for federal procurement. Current foam plastic packaging, based on petro/fossil feedstocks, presents a major disposal problem, as it is lightweight and bulky and so does not lend itself to a viable economic and environmentally responsible recycling operation. It is also not biodegradable, which makes disposal in soil or composting operations untenable. If successful, this project will offer a sustainable, material carbon footprint neutral alternative. The new starch foam products will have the performance of current synthetic plastic foam but can be safely, completely, and efficiently biodegraded in soil or composting operations. These new products will fit both private sector market needs and federal government initiatives.
In this NSF STTR project KTM Industries in cooperation with Michigan State University designed and engineered a portfolio of biodegradable starch based biofoam materials for the protective packaging and insulation market. These materials have (a) the performance of current petro/fossil based polyethylene and polystyrene foam materials (b) 100% biobased carbon content, and (c) can be safely, completely, and efficiently biodegraded in soil or composting operations at the end-of-life. Companies are actively seeking new, sustainable, biobased and biodegradable foam packaging to replace existing petroleum/fossil based foams -- foam products that provide the needed performance but with a reduced carbon footprint, and environmentally responsible end-of-life option. The starch biofoam product meets the above requirements as well as U.S. Government mandates of the USDA biopreferred program for biobased products – identifies biobased foams with minimum 50% biobased content for Federal procurement. The technology involves a one step, reactive extrusion process using water as the pasticizer and blowing agent along with suitable polymer modifiers to generate the cellular starch foam. Water and the shear imparted in the extrusion process helps in breaking the hydrogen bonds holding the starch molecules in the granule state and release the polymer chains without significantly reducing the molecular weight of the starch polymer. Nucleating agents and blending appropriate polymer modifiers allows control of the cell structure, maintain flexibility of the foam material, and greatly improve moisture resistance without sacrificing the cushioning and insulation properties. Screw configurations and die design are important to control the foaming process. The starch biofoam products are completely biodegradable as per ASTM and ISO standards and is one of the few products that meets the recently issued U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) green guides requirements for making a claim of "biodegradable". Replacing petro/fossil carbon in PE and PS foam with biobased carbon from starch offers an intrinsic value proposition of a zero material carbon footprint. This arises from the short, sustainable, and in balance biological carbon cycling where the rate and time scales of carbon sequestration into plant biomass is in balance with its use and release back to the atmosphere. This is in contrast with petro/fossil carbon that is sequestered over millions of years and is released in a short time frame making it un-sustainable and becoming a net greenhouse gas contributor.The process carbon and environmental footprint was calculated using ISO 14040 LCA methodology. The LCA shows that the biofoam product has significantly reduced impacts in all the major impact categories compared to the petro/fossil based polyethylene foam, and an order of magnitude reduced energy consumption in manufacturing. The technology developed in this NSF SBIR project has been translated to commercial production in KTM’s 20,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Lansing, Michigan. The facility employs 11 people and has the capacity to manufacture 17 million board feet of Green CellTM Foam (approximately $7 million of revenue) annually. The following products are commercial: Isagenix (www.isagenix.com ) cooler box using Green Cell Foam panels as insulation. Isagenix ships health and wellness products, many of which require protection from heat during shipment. e3live (www.e3live.com ) cooler box using Green Cell Foam panels as insulation. The company sells health and wellness products, most of which are made from blue-green algae. The company will use over 20,000 Green Cell coolers to protect their frozen algae products. Garden of Life (www.gardenoflife.com) cooler box using Green Cell Foam panels as insulation. Based in Riviera Beach, FL, Garden of Life uses Green Cell coolers to protect probiotics in shipment. Starting in late 2011, Garden of Life has already used over 35,000 Green Cell coolers. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (www.sandoz.com ) cooler box uses Green Cell Foam panels and partitions for insulation. Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis based in Broomfield, CO, started using Green Cell coolers to ship human pharmaceuticals on a test basis. After extensive testing and meeting FDA requirements, Sandoz replaced all four sizes of its polystyrene coolers with Green Cell coolers in late 2011. Over 40,000 coolers used by Sandoz in 2012. Volvo Trucks and Heavy Equipment (www.volvo.com), based in Lewis Center, OH, switched all of its polyethylene and polystyrene foams to Green Cell Foam to protect all glass shipments in North America. Adams Foam is a 60 year old foam fabricator and offers Green Cell foam to its customers -- www.adamsfoam.com/greencell.php . Starch Tech is a Minnesota company in the business of starch packaging product since 1996. The company offers GreenCell foam sheets for insulation and cushion protection -- www.starchtech.com/green-cell-foam.htm Landaal Packaging based in Flint, MI is a supplier of packaging products, supplies and services since 1959. It is a partner and fabricator of GreenCell foam packaging. www.landaal.com/environmentally-focused-packaging/biodegradable-foam-products; www.landaal.com/environmentally-focused-packaging/biodegradable-cold-chain
