The high use of synthetic plastics is a major concern worldwide due to the large amounts of waste that have been required for many years. Europeans produce 26 million tons of plastic waste every year. But only 30% of them is actually recycled, and the remaining 70 percent of waste ends up in landfills, incinerated or not collected at all and enters the environment. The agreement between the EP and the EU Council on the proposal would ban certain disposable plastic products, such as cutlery, plates, drinking straws, which should be made of sustainable materials. Thus, starch can be the sustainable material that can be adapted to replace commonly plastics. The problem, however, is that natural starch is not suitable for processing by thermoplastics. The solution of this problem is the chemical modification of starch. It was designed to synthesize thermoplastic starch esters, and to regulate the properties of starch by selecting different organic anhydrides for reaction and changing the degree of substitution.
Project funding:
Project is funded by EU Structural Funds according to the 2014–2020 Operational Programme for the European Union Funds’ Investments priority “Development of scientific competence of researchers, other researchers, students through practical scientific activities” under Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712.
Project results:
Starch esters were synthesized using different anhydrides (acetic, octenylsuccinic, succinic acid and phthalic acid anhydrides). The thermal properties of starch esters with different degrees of substitution were studied, and changes in hydrophilicity and particle size distribution were determined. The starch esterification reaction was optimized by changing the selected parameters: reaction temperature, reaction time and amount of catalyst. Starch derivatives modified with acetic and octenylsuccinic anhydrides have been found to have optimal properties.
Period of project implementation: 2020-11-03 - 2021-04-30
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
