3 Things you Need to Know about Bioproducts

3 Things you Need to Know about Bioproducts

Bioproducts are becoming a great source of raw material for things we use every day. Using bioproducts has the potential to be more economically friendly than using fossil fuels. It is important to know what kinds of materials can be made from bioproducts and how these processes occur.  Three important products that you have probably used many times include sugar, plastics, and fuel, but what materials are used to make these products and how are they made?

1. How do we get Sugar from Bioproducts?

Sugar can be obtained from a variety of bioproducts.  Some of these bioproducts include sugar cane, corn kernels, and corn stover.  The bioproduct we use for sugar depends on the where we are in the world.  For us in the U.S., the sugar making process relies on corn as the main bioproduct source. The process for retrieving sugar as a product is different for each source you use, but we will be looking specifically on the process from corn to sugar.

               Corn begins its process to sugar in the milling stage.  In the dry milling stage, the corn is grinded down in order to expose the starch. A corn slurry is made from a mixture of the exposed starch and water and it is heated.  Next, amylase is used as an enzyme to break down the starch molecules into maltose and then another enzyme is used to break maltose into the simple sugar glucose monomers (Corn Syrup).

2. How do we get Plastics from Bioproducts?

               Generally, the hydrocarbons used to create plastic come from nonrenewable fossil fuels, but plastic can also be produced from bio renewable materials such as wood material, oils, starch, and food waste.  There are a variety of bioplastics that can be made such as non-biodegradable, biodegradable, and compostable. The non-biodegradable bioplastics are made primarily from sugar.  The process to make these bioplastics from sugar can involve different processes with many similarities.  This includes fermenting and distilling sugar to ethanol.  Ethanol is then chemically reacted to form a version of ethylene.  Then a polymerization occurs.  For biodegradable bioplastics, the process is much different.  The raw materials used to make these plastics include starch, cellulose, and sugar. Many of these processed involve fermentation and heat applications (Gibbens).   

3. How do we get Fuels from Bioproducts?

               Plant oils can be converted into fuels.  This process includes extracting the oil from the seed and then converting the oil to fuels through transesterification. Transesterification modifies triglycerides produce improved fuel. The triglycerides react with methanol and a catalyst to produce biodiesel and glycerol.  The glycerol is removed from the mixture and biodiesel is kept for fuel usage. Another process of converting triglycerides to fuel is by hydrotreating the mixture (Ogden).  This produces synthetic diesel by producing molecules of only hydrogen and carbon. The problem with producing renewable fuels from feedstock is the high cost (McFadden).

In conclusion, bioproducts make up a huge portion of materials we use in our lives including sugars, plastics, and fuels. It is vital to know where these products come from and how we can utilize these products compared to nonrenewable resources. Many people do not realize the extent of products that can be made from bio renewable resources.

Resources

“Corn Syrup.” How Products Are Made, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Corn-Syrup.html.

Gibbens, Sarah. “What You Need to Know about Plant-Based Plastics.” Bioplastics-Are They Truly Better for the Environment?, 21 Nov. 2018, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/are-bioplastics-made-from-plants-better-for-environment-ocean-plastic/.

McFadden, Christopher. “Seven Cool Biofuel Crops That We Use for Fuel Production.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 12 Mar. 2018, https://interestingengineering.com/seven-biofuel-crops-use-fuel-production.

Ogden Publications, Inc. “Fuel From Plants! The Basics of Biofuels.” Mother Earth News, https://www.motherearthnews.com/green-transportation/fuel-efficiency/biofuels-zkcz12zsch.