Method of producing polyhydroxyalkanoate compounded plastics having improved mechanical properties

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9469746-B2
Application number	US-201314652890-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2013
Priority date	Dec 18, 2012
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A method of enhancing mechanical properties of compounds formed with polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) recovered by biomass where the biomass comprises PHA and non-PHA materials. The method includes dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in a solution and separating the PHA and non-PHA materials from the solution. Further, the method includes compounding the separated PHA material and at least some of the separated non-PHA material into a compounded plastic having improved mechanical properties.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of enhancing mechanical properties of compounds formed with polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) recovered from biomass, comprising:
a. providing a biomass comprising PHA and non-PHA materials, wherein the non-PHA materials include lipids or fatty acids;
b. placing the biomass in at least one solution;
c. dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution, wherein at least part of the biomass is not dissolved;
d. separating the dissolved PHA and the dissolved non-PHA materials from the non-dissolved biomass;
e. separating the dissolved PHA from the dissolved non-PHA materials; and
f. compounding the separated PHA and at least some of the separated non-PHA materials into a compounded plastic including the PHA and having at least one improved mechanical property relative to a compound formed without including the non-PHA materials.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution comprises co-extracting the PHA and non-PHA materials from the biomass.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution includes subjecting the PHA and non-PHA materials to extraction temperatures between 120 and 165° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compounding the separated PHA and at least some of the separated non-PHA materials into a compounded plastic including the PHA and having at least one improved mechanical property relative to a compound formed without including the non-PHA materials includes selectively re-combining the PHA and non-PHA materials such that the utilized fraction of the non-PHA materials is 4-35% wt. with respect to the PHA weight in the compounded plastic.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution entails a co-extraction process wherein the co-extraction of the non-PHA and PHA materials is phased.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non PHA materials in the at least one solution entails the co-extraction process wherein the co-extraction of the non-PHA and PHA materials is phased and the non-PHA material is extracted first leaving at least 90 percent of the extractable PHA material still in the biomass.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the non-PHA material is extracted first leaving at least 90 percent of the extractable PHA material still in the biomass by maintaining the solution temperature below 120° C.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the non-PHA material is extracted first leaving at least 90 percent of the extractable PHA material still in the biomass, and wherein the extraction is performed with a non-polar solvent that does not dissolve the PHA independent of temperature.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution includes dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials into solution together, and wherein the separating the dissolved PHA from the dissolved non-PHA materials includes separately recovering more than 90 percent of the extractable non-PHA material.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution includes dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials into the solution together and wherein the separating the dissolved PHA from the dissolved non-PHA materials includes selectively bringing the PHA material out of solution by a change in temperature, leaving at least 90 percent of the extractable non-PHA material dissolved.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the PHA brought out of solution is separated from the solution and the non-PHA materials are subsequently recovered by evaporating the solution.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the non-PHA material is further refined and wherein the compounding the separated PHA and at least some of the separated non-PHA material into a compounded plastic comprises including only selected components of the non-PHA material in the compounded plastic with the PHA material.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution includes dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials into the solution together and wherein both the PHA and non-PHA materials are brought out of solution together by a change in temperature and the addition of a more polar solvent than the solution.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising;
performing a number of biomass extractions; and
collecting batches of the non-PHA materials from the number of biomass extractions; and
wherein the compounding the separated PHA and at least some of the separated non-PHA materials into a compounded plastic includes compounding the non-PHA material, or components thereof, with individual or combined batches of the PHA extracted from the biomass.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one improved mechanical property includes elongation to break.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one improved mechanical property includes toughness.

17. A method of enhancing mechanical properties of plastic structures formed with compounds of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) produced from biomass, comprising:
a. providing a biomass comprising PHA and non-PHA materials, the non-PHA materials including long chain fatty acids or lipids;
b. placing the biomass in at least one solution;
c. dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution, wherein at least part of the biomass is not dissolved;
d. separating the dissolved PHA and dissolved non-PHA materials from the non-dissolved biomass;
e. separating the dissolved PHA from the dissolved non-PHA materials; and
f. selectively recombining the separated PHA and the separated non-PHA materials to form a compounded plastic having at least one improved mechanical property relative to a compounded plastic formed exclusive of any of the separated non-PHA materials.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution comprises co-extracting the PHA and non-PHA materials from the biomass.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the selectively recombining the separated PHA and separated non-PHA materials to form a compounded plastic having at least one improved mechanical property includes recombining the separated PHA and separated non-PHA materials such that the non-PHA material forms 4-35% wt, with respect to the weight of the PHA in the compounded plastic.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution entails a co-extraction process wherein the co-extraction of the PHA and non-PHA materials is phased.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising:
performing a number of biomass extractions; and
collecting batches of the non-PHA materials from the number of biomass extractions; and
wherein the selectively recombining the separated PHA and the separated non-PHA materials to form a compounded plastic includes compounding the non-PHA materials, or components thereof, with individual or combined batches of the PHA extracted from the biomass.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the dissolving the PHA and non-PHA materials in the at least one solution includes a co-extraction process including first extracting the non-PHA material and thereafter extracting the PHA.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the first extracting the non-PHA

Assignees

• Veolia Water Solutions And Tech Support
• Univ Queensland

Inventors

• Werker Alan Gideon
• Arcos Hernández Mónica Vanessa
• Laycock Bronwyn Glenice
• Pratt Steven
• Johansson Peter Stig Tomas
• Magnusson Per Olof Gösta

Classifications

• C08K5/09 Primary

  Carboxylic acids; Metal salts thereof; Anhydrides thereof · CPC title

• C08L99/00

  Compositions of natural macromolecular compounds or of derivatives thereof not provided for in groups C08L89/00 - C08L97/00 · CPC title

• C08L67/04

  Polyesters derived from hydroxycarboxylic acids, e.g. lactones (C08L67/06 takes precedence) · CPC title