2023-09-13 17:07:23
-The main barriers preventing the dominance of bioplastics in the plastic industry are the low cost of traditional plastic and the demands of mechanical properties. This has meant that, until now, there are few bioplastics that can compete at an industrial level. Polylactic acid (PLA) is the only one that has managed to establish itself on a sustained basis in certain high value sectors such as healthcare and 3D printing. Other bioplastics, such as PHA, are striving to achieve economic viability at an industrial level, but they still need time, which will surely be years.
-And this is where your product is innovative.
-Our PLH copolyester, with a worldwide patent, shares both the same renewable source as PLA – vegetable derivatives and sugars – and its industrial production process, which in our case is based on green chemistry. This makes their industrialization and market price very similar. This correspondence facilitates the scalability of our bioplastic with a high degree of confidence, using already established and developed infrastructures. We can even take advantage of existing factories that are used for PLA production, which significantly speeds up all the engineering work and machinery investments required in this type of industry. For bioplastics to lead the plastics industry, they need to be industrially scalable, highly functional and economically competitive. Our PLH fulfills them.
– How did the idea come about?
When we founded our company at the end of 2017, our initial objective was to develop an innovative synthetic biomaterial for the health sector, following the guidelines of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS). Our goal was to focus on the regeneration of human organs using a bioactivated implant that could release drugs, cell growth factors or stem cells and that, after a few months, would be absorbed by the body, leaving the new tissue without traces of the original biomaterial. This ambitious project required that the biomaterial be 100% biocompatible with the human body, have excellent mechanical properties to support the initial tissue and allow its functionalization, i.e. adaptation depending on the release of the drug or bioactive selected for each patient, in the field of personalized medicine. All this had to be controlled by biodegradation, according to the patient’s pathology.
– How did you get it?
-We developed a new biomaterial from lactic acid, a natural chemical compound present in our biology, and an unsaturated macrolactone of plant origin, creating a renewable and biocompatible base material. It only took us four years, including the pandemic, which was really crazy. Once the PLH was formulated, we moved on to validation. We performed several trials with bone cells that proved very promising, which motivated us to explore additional applications in other tissues, such as cartilage and nerve tissue, and also in other sectors where biology is crucial, such as in agriculture We verified that our biomaterial surpassed existing bioplastics such as PLA, PHA and others in mechanical properties and biodegradation control. This prompted us to apply for the patent we obtained earlier this year.
-What are the advantages of PLH?
-For example, we can control the duration of its degradation process, which can extend from as little as two months to 48 months or even more. In addition, PLH is capable of controlled release of bioactives, making it an exceptionally attractive option for sectors such as healthcare and agriculture. It also has excellent mechanical properties. Its resistance and durability are comparable to those of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), two of the conventional polymers most used in industry. This positions PLH as a sustainable and very powerful alternative to traditional plastics.
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