Скачать или смотреть #3 - Transforming Manure into Biodegradable Plastic

Let's delve into an innovative solution that could revolutionize the dairy industry—turning dairy manure into biodegradable plastic. Joining us are Dr. Erik Coats, a Civil & Environmental Engineering Professor at the University of Idaho, and his grad student Brandon Boyd.

Dr. Coats and his team are pioneering a process that converts dairy manure into a biological, biodegradable thermoplastic known as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). Throughout the episode, they explain the three-stage process that involves fermenting manure to volatile fatty acids, sustaining bacteria that store these acids as PHA, and producing commercial quantities of PHA in batch reactors. They discuss the environmental benefits of this technology, its potential to create new revenue streams for dairy farmers, and the challenges they face in scaling up production.