Design and Analysis of Casting of Bio Plastic by fruit waste

The negative effects on the environment of the intensive use of synthetic, oil-derived plastics to make products have given renewed impetus to the search for biopolymers derived from vegetable, animal or microbial matter that could prove to be a sound alternative in several applications. However, th

Project Title

Design and Analysis of Casting of Bio Plastic by fruit waste

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

The negative effects on the environment of the intensive use of synthetic, oil-derived plastics to make products have given renewed impetus to the search for biopolymers derived from vegetable, animal or microbial matter that could prove to be a sound alternative in several applications. However, the real challenge is to create new materials from food waste and not from specially grown crops, whose production in any case comes at an environmental cost. In recent years, the testing of substances made from food waste has increased significantly; the sheer abundance of raw materials that can be used to make them has encouraged institutional research, as well as an approach to project development that has been widely embraced by the many young designers who craft these materials.  In this project we are using a Bio-press machine which will cast the Bio-plastic to our desired shape depending on the mould, the mould we would be using will be of a cup. We will cast small cups using orange peels, the Temperature will be controlled using the PID controller.

Project Objectives

In order to achieve a reduction in the use of disposable plastic packaging made from petroleum derivatives the use of organic wastes converted into biodegradable polymers is an opportunity. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to obtain a biopolymer developed through the conversion of orange peels. The use of tree structures allowed relating different variables that could have influence in the formulation of bioplastics. The variables that had more weight are the ratios of starch used in the formulation, the method to cool down the mix, and the drying method. In order to achieve the best biopolymer, the best variables were the use starch 100%, cooling at room temperature and dehydration for drying. The results can contribute to create a circular economy and will protect the environment.

Project Implementation Method

There are some tricks which can make implementation of Bio-Press easier:
First is to build a rail and gliding system for your moulds- this makes it much easier to slide the moulds in and align them with their counterpart. The way we built it is a pretty simple frame from some L-profiles with wooden boxes around the moulds. Check out our plans in the download kit!
Secondly we outlined a workspace layout and build a pretty simple dehydrator, a neat sorting system from glass jars that we rescued from the waste of the restaurants around us and even spent some time thinking about how to collect fresh material from your neighborhood.
We will test a few materials in the press and we will use anything that has cellulose, as that should work in principle. However, when it comes to the bigger products, they definitely get stronger if you add a natural binder to the mix. These can for example be starch, xanthan gum or gelatine. If you don’t want to use fresh materials, be creative, there is starch in basically any root vegetable and it’s peel.

Benefits of the Project

The main aim behind this project is to decrease the amount of non-biodegradable plastic and to aware the society about the use of bioplastic instead of biodegradable and non-biodegradable plastic. We can use this bio plastic in our daily life. Also, it helps to decrease the amount of soil pollution in our environment.
Generally, bioplastics contribute towards improving the environmental impact of products:
•    Use of renewable resources for monomers production.
•     Reduces the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.
•    Their biodegradable nature offers an additional option for the end-of-life of the products, which allows for a reduction in the amount of waste material
•    Reduction of greenhouse gas emission.
•    Saving fossil fuels.
•    Possibility of using a local resource.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

If you heat and press a material that includes cellulose in a closed mould, the energy of the water molecules inside the material, which would usually go into creating steam, goes into creating new bonds between the cellulose. That’s why a material like coffee grounds, which is high in cellulose, starts binding without the help of any other natural binding agents and we get something that actually looks pretty stone-like.
However for this to work, it’s important to have a closed mould, as the energy might wander off with the steam otherwise and leave you with unbound material. That’s why all of our moulds have a pretty tight fit and a straight part in which the mould is already closed, but leaves space for compression.
For all of the other natural binders mentioned above: all of them bind at a pretty low temperature (eg. starch at 60°C) and usually in combination with water. That’s why they can help your materials to bind, in case your mould doesn’t close properly or anything else that may make binding the cellulose difficult.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Food

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Affordable and Clean Energy, Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com