The current trend in biodegradable packing involves grafting polymers from naturally derived starches onto acrylic backbones. While this method greatly increases biodegradability in comparison to traditional petroleum-based plastics, it can still take many years for the acrylic and polyester backbones to degrade. To combat this, companies have begun to incorporate biological entities such as enzymes with polymer-degrading activity into the material. These enzymes drastically reduce the time it takes for the product to degrade once in a landfill setting.
Common issues with these biological entities include a lack of stability in solution and difficulty in fully homogenizing in solution using current production methods. Carbios most recent patent application (U.S. Pub. No. 20200190279) aims to solve this issue. The application teaches a method of introducing a biological entity into biodegradable material during the molten stage of production. To do this, Carbios developed a solution comprised of: a biological entity, a liquid solvent, and a carrier utilizing either a naturally occurring gum or starch derivative. The solution is a liquid, so it can be easily mixed with the biodegradable material before being cast, and the carrier molecule provides stability to the enzyme during the production process.
This is Carbios third application in the field of biodegradable packaging since 2018. As the world collectively begins to choose green options over petroleum products, the biodegradable packing sector is sure to continue growing. Stay up to date with the all the newest patent activity with the Magic Number® Biodegradable Packaging Patent Radian®.
