Renewable Resources for Bio-plastics

Abstract

Advantageous features and achievements of nature in the course of evolution have been a driver for innovation in the chemical industry since the very beginning of the industrial age. Thus, the development of colourants was transferred to the laboratory and a few years later, an alternative to natural rubber was developed (perhaps one of the most impressive examples of successful biomimetics), thus laying the foundations for the meteoric rise of the chemistry of synthetic polymers. However, in polymer chemistry and especially in the coatings, paints, adhesives, and printing ink industries, natural polymers have always played an important complementary role in research and industrial use. The reason for this is their cost-effective worldwide availability, their specific spectrum of properties and, for applications in contact with food, their suitability as food and their compatibility with the human metabolism. With increasing concern about the environmental impact of synthetic fibres and plastics, biopolymers continue to gain importance and the successful use of the “development lab of nature”, i.e. biomimetics and white biotechnology methods, continue to advance in the fields of medical and personal care applications of bio-polymers as well as in bio-composites and bio-adhesives.