According to statistics, about 4.9 million tonnes of plastic were put on the market in the UK in 2018, three-quarters of which ended up as plastic waste, and plastic waste waste is expected to increase by 20% by 2030 as the demand for plastic climbs year by year. Traditional petroleum-based plastics are difficult to biodegrade, causing ecological pollution and threatening human healthBiodegradable plasticsis a better alternative. However, at this stage, the production cost and raw material cost (carbon source and related extraction and transformation) of biodegradable plastics are relatively high, which hinders large-scale commercial application, and the use of waste biomass as the main carbon source can effectively control the cost of bio-based plastics, and also provide a more environmentally friendly and economical solution for the management of waste biomass resources. Based on this, the team at the Alfred Fernandez-Castane Laboratory at Aston University in the United Kingdom has developed oneA combination of pretreatment and fermentation strategies efficiently converts tapioca peel waste into a bio-based material, PHBV, and PCL is added to obtain a more performant blend of bio-based materialsto further expand the range of applications for PHBVs. The research work has been published in the Journal of Polymers and the Environment. 
*：journal of polymers and the environment）
Sugarcane, rice, cassava, palm, etc. are the main crops grown globally, and these crops generate economic benefits while also bringing a lot of waste. Cassava, for example, is an important source of agricultural income in sub-Saharan Africa, which produces about annually1.6.9 billion tonsCassava, produced40 million tonsCassava waste, cassava waste that is discarded in landfills can release large amounts of COs that exacerbate the greenhouse effect. UtilizationRenewable resources(e.g. waste biomass) as productionBio-based materials(e.g. phbv).Carbon sourceIt is a new way to effectively reduce production costs, and at the same time, it also brings an effective solution for waste treatment, helping to achieve "carbon neutrality" and circular benefits. 
*：journal of polymers and the environment）
Polyhydroxyalkatic acid esters (PHAs).It is an intracellular polyester synthesized by microorganisms, which is a natural polymer biomaterial, which has many advantages such as physicochemical properties similar to traditional plastics and biodegradability and biocompatibility that traditional plastics do not have. Because PHA has different monomer structures, there are many types, including PHA composed of short-chain monomers, PHA composed of medium- and long-chain monomers, and copolymers composed of different kinds of monomers, such as PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate), PHV (polyhydroxyvalerate), and copolymers of both (PHBV). toPHBV (copolymer of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyvalerate).As a kind of biopolyester, it can be completely decomposed under soil or composting conditions, and has good biocompatibility and high barrier to water and gas, so it has a wide range of application prospects in medical materials, film materials, daily necessities and packaging materials (especially food packaging). Previous studies have found that 3-hydroxybutyric acid (3HB) and 3-hydroxyvaleric acid (3HV) have been combined with ...Copolymerization in different proportionsThe elongation of PHBV is higher than that of PHB alone, and the molar ratio of 3HV added to PHBV increases its elongation, but also reduces the melting temperature, glass transition temperature, and tensile strength. This means,Changing the molar ratio of 3HV in PHBV polymers can help diversify material propertiesto further expand the scope of application. In addition to this, another relatively simple and cost-effective way to enhance the mechanical properties of bio-based materials is to mix them with other biopolymers, such as starch, polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), etc., such as when a small amount of PHA is mixed with PLA, this blend increases the elongation at break from 4% to 200%. 
Diagram of converting tapioca peel into PHA PCL blend (**Journal of Polymers and the Environment) As a semi-crystalline aliphatic polyester, polycaprolactone (PCL) has high crystallinity and flexibility for biomedical applications, such as for cartilage repair and bone scaffolding. At present, there are few reports of research on PHBV PCL mixtures in the industry, and the research work of Alfred Fernandez-Castane's team fills this gap. In this study, they first extracted fermentable sugars from cassava peel waste and bioconverted them into PHBV using cupri**idus necator, in which they developed an integrated process that converts cassava peel waste into PHA by dilute acid pretreatment**Rate of 972%), then fermentedCassava peel hydrolysate (CPH) is used as the sole carbon source to produce PHBV. It is worth noting that this studyThe processing conditions used enable the production of PHBV at a controlled molar ratio of 2:1 to 3HB:3HV, which has better elongation than PHB alone and can be used for many types of materials. Next, they extracted and characterized PHBV produced from tapioca peel hydrolysate, subsequentlyBlend PHBV with PCLto obtain new plasticized materials with improved thermodynamic and mechanical properties. Finally, they prepared a fully biodegradable one with PCL as a plasticizerPHBV PCL binary blend, passedVarying the amount of PCL added fine-tunes the chemical, thermodynamic, morphological and mechanical properties of this blendWait. For example, blends with PHBV as the main ingredient are more brittle, while blends with high PCL content can exhibit a good balance between brittleness and plasticity, and the addition of PCL makes this blend more brittleHigher degradation temperaturesto enhance its stability. 
Figure Appearance and thermodynamic properties of the binary blend PHBV PCL (**Journal of Polymers and the Environment) The researchers also point out the significance of this research work, first of all, forAgricultural waste disposalprovide a potential solution that would benefit the cassava processing industry (or other crop processing industries); Secondly, develop oneNew plastics, which can be applied to packaging and biomedical engineering, resulting in better environmental protection and healthcare benefits. Next, the Alfred Fernandez-Castane team plans to use these findings to study more complex".Ternary blendsBiodegradable additives are used to control the final properties of the material to further expand the range of applications for PHBVs. 
Figure: Dr Alfred Fernandez-Castane, Department of Chemistry and Biochemical Engineering, Aston University, Corresponding author of this paper, Dr Alfred Fernandez-Castane, is a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry and Biochemical Engineering at Aston University and a Principal Investigator in the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBI) and the Aston Materials Research Institute (AIMR) groups. His lab is developing new biorefinery processes that are more sustainable and cost-effective to produce high-value products with industrial value, including the production of magnetosomes from magnetotactic bacteria, biodegradable biopolymers, and enzymes for the synthesis of biofuels. Material**Official** Online News Disclaimer: This article aims to convey the latest information on synthetic biology, does not represent the position of the platform, and does not constitute any investment advice and recommendations, subject to the official company announcement. This article is not a **plan recommendation, if you need to get **plan guidance, please go to a regular hospital for treatment.