In recent years, India has always made some bizarre jokes, such as the production of eye drops that can cripple people, and the fact that soldiers pulling poop on a ship actually caused methane accumulation, resulting in a military ship ** or something. But this time, they finally got down to business, cleverly turning bagasse into disposable cutlery, which is not only environmentally friendly but also profitable!
You have to believe that anything that seems to be discarded has a value that cannot be ignored. The reason why garbage is garbage is garbage is only because we don't know enough to make it a treasure.
So, how exactly does bagasse become eco-friendly cutlery? Can India promote this industry on its own soil? Brother Ah San once again made a trick to turn bagasse into environmentally friendly tableware with a future and a rich future, one word, "absolutely"! As the world's largest sugar producer, they not only have to deal with the processing and production of sugar, but also have to solve the problem of what to do with the residue left after sugar processing. I tried all kinds of methods, and finally came up with an optimal solution, which is really great.
For many years, India has been the world's main producer of sugar. During the October 2018-September 2019 crushing season, India produced 33.07 million tonnes of sugar, surpassing Brazil and becoming the world's largest producer. In the 2022 23 crushing season, India's sugar production reached 33.6 million tons, and its exports reached nearly 7 million tons. Such a high yield of sugar brings not only considerable benefits, but also countless bagasses.
According to preliminary statistics, India produces about 4 million tonnes of bagasse per year. Dealing with these bagasses is a headache for sugar mill owners. Piled up around the factory, it smells sour and smelly, worse than the water of the Ganges. Someone thought of several ways to deal with it.
The easiest way is to use bagasse as compost and turn it into fertilizer. Although this method is feasible, it is easy to produce a large amount of biogas, and it is difficult for the plant to add biogas collection equipment, which may lead to the greenhouse effect and cause serious environmental damage.
Still others choose to use bagasse for power generation, generating electricity by burning it to generate heat. While slightly better than composting, it's not cost-effective. The electricity converted by the combustion of 4 tons of sugarcane is barely equal to that converted by the combustion of 1 ton of coal. Despite this, India** also encourages thermal power bosses to invest in factories, but people with economic acumen may not want to settle this account.
Another way to dispose of it is to use bagasse for papermaking. Sounds good, but due to the low purity of bagasse, various costly additives such as wood pulp are also needed to make paper. As the cost rises, this solution is not very practical.
After years of trying, the sugar mill owners did not find a solution, but a paper mill owner found a business opportunity.
Mark, the owner of a paper mill in India, inherited his father's business and has been using bagasse to make paper for 40 years. However, over time, the machines became obsolete, and the paper produced could not match the advanced technology. Just when the boss was worried, he saw a TV report that Indians were using a lot of disposable cutlery made of plastic, causing damage to the environment. So, Mark had an idea and decided to sell his property and start making eco-friendly disposable lunch boxes from sugar cane.
After several twists and turns, Mark's factory is now capable of producing one million single-use degradable lunch boxes per day. Not only did this solve the crisis, but it also allowed them to take the lead in mastering a new technology that was both environmentally friendly and profitable. With India's increasing attention to environmental pollution, Mark's degradable lunch boxes have been vigorously promoted.
As countries have confirmed their dual carbon goals, plastic reduction and ban have become an irreversible trend. This is also an important reason for the explosive growth of the degradable lunch box business. So, what exactly are the benefits of this technology?
First of all, of course, environmental protection. As we all know, plastic pollution has become a global problem. A plastic bag can exist in the land for up to 450 years, seriously affecting the ecological balance of the soil and causing great damage to the growth of crops. Degradable lunch boxes made from sugarcane bagasse are completely different, and after experiments, they can completely degrade in about 120 days underground. The experimental results showed that the heavy metal content of this lunch box was only 1 8 of the standard value, which was very safe. At the same time, they also exhibit good oil and water resistance. The use of bagasse to make lunch boxes is not only environmentally friendly, but also protects limited forest resources to a certain extent.
Secondly, the strength and quality of these lunch boxes are guaranteed. The bagasse fiber is of high quality, which makes the lunch box very strong and not easily damaged. At the same time, they have a light texture and are easy to handle. Experiments have proved that lunch boxes made of bagasse have good flame retardancy, which is far less flammable than plastic. Of course, they are also very resistant to oil and water, and fully meet the requirements of using lunch boxes.
Bagasse lunch boxes are not only hard, but also have strong plasticity and can be recycled. It can not only be made into a variety of shapes of lunch boxes according to the needs of different molds, but also made into various sheets and high-density composite materials, which are widely used in the field of home furnishing and decoration.
It seems that India is really powerful enough to come up with such a perfect solution. However, we have not been left behind in this regard. China began to conduct in-depth research on the reuse of sugarbagasse as early as 2015, and has been able to mass-produce degradable lunch boxes.
Back in 2016, the Beijing Xinhua News Agency Feed Center published an article entitled "Bagasse Can Be Made into Fast Tableware", introducing the successful research of Fujian Putian Sugar Factory-Paper Tableware Branch made of sugarbagasse, which has been put into production since December 2015, with a daily output of up to 40,000.
In 2020, Zhu Hongli's research group at Northeastern University successfully developed a disposable lunch box, which is made of a mixture of bagasse and bamboo fiber. Through multiple tests, it has been shown that the product can gradually disappear in only about 60 days, and its heavy metal content is only 1 8 of the standard value. Not only is it more resistant to oil and water than tableware made from conventional bagasse, but it also emits only 97% of CO2 during production than plastic. In particular, although this study makes the cost of tableware made from bagasse 20% higher than that of plastic, it is very meaningful for both environmental protection and practical use.
So, not only did India discover this secret, but our country has long had an insight into the trick of turning bagasse into treasure, and it has been continuously improving over the years. In fact, turning bagasse into treasure is only one of them, and with the increasing global white pollution, many new degradable materials are constantly being developed.
For example, biodegradable starch plastics. This plastic is developed from starch, which has the ability to biodegrade in any environment, can be ashed, can also form gas evaporation, and is not harmful to soil and air. Moreover, starch, as a renewable resource, is inexhaustible, environmentally friendly and resource-saving.
There is also biopolyester, which is a biodegradable plastic synthesized by microorganisms. Its applications range from food and beverage packaging, textiles, home appliances, automotive and ship parts, and even in the construction industry. Although the technology is still in its infancy, the product has not yet been mass-produced.
In addition, there are plant hemagglutinin (PHA) biodegradable materials. This material has a wide range of applications, including medical, packaging, sustained-release, electrical, and other fields. Not only does it perform well in terms of processability and surface properties, but it is also non-toxic and harmless, and can come into direct contact with food without any problems. In the medical field, it can also be used as sutures, bone replacement, vascular replacement, hemostatic plugs, etc.
Due to their degradable properties, some of these materials are already in mass production, while some are still in their infancy. In general, the application of these materials will become very extensive in the future, and the prospect of industrialization is also very broad.
The sugarbagasse manufacturing degradable lunch box studied in India this time is really forward-looking. On the one hand, it is in line with the future development trend, on the other hand, it solves the troubles of India, a large sugar-producing country for many years, and adds a lot of weight to the country's economic development.
China has also conducted in-depth research on the topic of replacing plastics with degradable products, and has successfully achieved mass production of some degradable products by using China's strong manufacturing base. This is not only the embodiment of technical strength, but also a positive contribution to environmental protection.
At present, it seems that in the future, degradable products have become unstoppable to replace plastics, and solving white pollution has become a global common responsibility. Everyone is working towards this goal, and the power of this change cannot be underestimated.