Production of bioplastic material from algal biomass
Marjana Simonič, Fras Zemljic
Abstract
Bioplastic composite material was developed from polylactic acid used as basic polymer and microalgae. Two types of biomaterials were prepared based on the proportion of microalgae and polylactic acid. The mass ratios were set to 5:95 and 10:90. First, spirulina was chosen as initial material and then a mixed culture of microalgae community from the biogas digestate treatment. The aim of the research was to study the characteristics of materials in order to determine whether the algal biomass community could be used in the production of bioplastics. It was found out that microalgae do not significantly impact the properties of the polylactic acid material. The degree of material crystallinity increased, the melting temperature reduced, and the modules of losses increased.