Carbohydrate material is more plentiful in the biosphere than all other organic matter combined, and polysaccharides like starch, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan,and pectin are gaining attention as renewable feedstocks for biodegradable plastics materials. Our research is directed at characterizing the interactions between starch and lignin in starch-kraft lignin-glycerol thermoplastic blends. Starch and lignin are two abundant agricultural feedstocks that could provide a large sustainable source of biodegradable plastics materials, but such applications require improving their materials performance through a better understanding of their interactions. We hypothesize that the chemical and physical properties of the components can be manipulated in order to optimize starch-lignin compatibilization, leading to applications such as biodegradable plastic film and foam for packaging and other applications.
Visit our web page at greenplastics.com.
Stereo view of agarose in a possible double helix conformation showing its lipophilic surface and the bound water in the double helix channel.
1.1Mb and 0.5Mb respectively
The movies above are of a short interval in the dynamics run of the bound water in the core of a possible double helix conformation of agarose.
1.6Mb and 180Kb respectively
The movies above depict 50 picoseconds of a 1 nanosecond dynamics run on Methyl 3,6-anhydro-alpha-D-galactopyranoside. This simulation, showing the molecular rigidity around the X-ray structure, is one method in which crystal-solution structural equivalence can be observed.
"How Green Are Green Plastics?" E. S. Stevens, BioCycle, December 2002, 42-45.
"What Makes Green Plastics Green?" E. S. Stevens, BioCycle, March 2003, 24-27.
"Environmentally Degradable Plastics," E. S. Stevens, Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, 3rd Edition, on-line version and print version, Wiley, New York, 2003.
"Tensile Strength Measurements on Biopolymer Films," E. S. Stevens and M. D. Poliks, Journal of Chemical Education, 2003, 80, 810-812.
"Polymer/Plastics Experiments for the Chemistry Curriculum," E. S. Stevens, K. Baumstein, J.-M. Leahy, and D. Doetschman, Journal of Chemical Education, 2006, 83, 1531-1533.
"Thermoplastic Starch-Kraft Lignin-Glycerol Blends," E. S. Stevens, J. L. Willett, and R. L. Shogren, Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy, 2007, 1, 351-359.
| Name: | Eugene S. Stevens | E-Mail: | stevens@binghamton.edu | |
| Address: | Department of Chemistry | Phone: | (607) 777-4244 | |
| Binghamton University | FAX: | (607) 777-4478 | ||
| Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 |
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