Popcorn could soon be used for building homes, furniture, and even cruise ships
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himWe know popcorn as traditional cinema snacks, but it could soon be used for building homes, furniture, and even cruise ships. How is it possible? Could popcorn really become the (green) material of the future?
Every year nearly 10 million tons of polystyrene they are produced and used in the most diverse fields - from industrial packaging to the production of disposable plates and glasses. However, beyond its indisputable usefulness and practicality, polystyrene has a dark side: it is not biodegradable and has a tendency to destroy itself in the environment, dispersing itself in millions of tiny particles that end up in the ground or in the water.
@Carolin Pertsch/Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
For this reason, researchers at the University of Göttingen have invested years of research in trying to find a green alternative to using this material. After numerous attempts they have succeeded in creating a three-dimensional material that can be made from popcorn reduced to 'granules' of all equal size. the granules are then pressed together to create eco-polystyrene sheets or panels.
The great advantage of this material is that, deriving from a food, it is highly biodegradable and eco-sustainable: this innovative packaging deriving from plants, in fact, is an excellent alternative to polystyrene, which derives from petroleum, and decomposes in the environment after use without leaving residues.
(Read: Goodbye Styrofoam! Scientists Create Compostable Plant Alternative From Plants)
"If you cut popcorn and look at it under a microscope, you see that it has a molecular structure similar to that of polystyrene," says Professor Alireza Kharazipour, who led the research team. "The production of this new material, based on a technology developed in the plastics industry, creates the production of a wide range of objects." This is particularly important with regards to packaging, as it ensures that products are transported correctly - which minimizes waste. " The new popcorn-based material, in fact, has water-repellent properties, which opens up the possibility of further uses in the future.
For now this material has been used for the production of kitchen accessories, but the possibilities of use are potentially endless.
Source: University of Göttingen
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