The world's first "reeds turned into plastic" production line has been put into operation in Shishou, Hubei Province

　　According to Hubei Daily, the world's first "reeds to plastic" production line was put into operation in Shishou, Hubei Province on May 9th. It consumes about 50 tons of raw materials such as reeds and straw every day and produces about 10 tons of polylactic acid and lignin.

　　The person in charge introduced that the corresponding production line has pioneered a non-grain raw material synthetic biological manufacturing technology system. Through strains, cellulose and hemicellulose in reeds are decomposed into sugar, then fermented into lactic acid monomers, and subsequently polymerized into polylactic acid (i.e., bioplastic) using original polymer technology. All performance indicators of the corresponding products fully meet the standards and can be widely applied in aspects such as lunch boxes, straws, disposable plastic packaging, agricultural mulching films, and garbage bags.

　　▲ Image source: Hubei Daily

　　Compared with traditional plastics, bioplastics show dual advantages in terms of environmental protection and cost. From an environmental perspective, its raw materials absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to grow, and after being biologically refined and transformed into plastic, the products can be completely degraded into carbon dioxide and water when discarded, forming a full life cycle carbon closed loop of "growth - use - degradation", reducing the consumption of petrochemical resources and carbon emissions from the source.

　　From a cost perspective, polylactic acid produced from non-grain raw materials such as reeds and crop straw can reduce costs by approximately 50% compared to grain-based raw materials. With the advancement of large-scale production, its price is expected to be lower than that of traditional petrochemical plastics, further reducing the final selling price of the products.

　　Source: Hubei Daily