Transfer from Corn to PlasticThe making process of corn to plastics, this plastic is made up of long molecular chairs of the polymer polylactide (PLA). It is derived from naturally-occurring plant starch. The image on the right shows one of the plastic bag made from corn.
To make plastic, polymer is very important. But to get the polymer from corn, then starch is needed. Therefore photosynthesis is the basic way to get starch from corn. The process of photosynthesis will be the carbon dioxide enters pores on the undersides of plant’s leaves, vein in the corn’s leaves supply water to the cell, and the sun’s energy is trapped inside small discs called chloroplasts. This energy drives the process of photosynthesis. The cell insides chloroplasts will create glucose and oxygen therefore sugar in the form of glucose and oxygen will be form when photosynthesis takes place. On the other hand, sugar in corn’s leaves will be uses as fuel and unused sugar is stored as starch in the kernel. To collect the starch in the kernel, therefore removed the cover of kernel was needed.
To make plastic, polymer is very important. But to get the polymer from corn, then starch is needed. Therefore photosynthesis is the basic way to get starch from corn. The process of photosynthesis will be the carbon dioxide enters pores on the undersides of plant’s leaves, vein in the corn’s leaves supply water to the cell, and the sun’s energy is trapped inside small discs called chloroplasts. This energy drives the process of photosynthesis. The cell insides chloroplasts will create glucose and oxygen therefore sugar in the form of glucose and oxygen will be form when photosynthesis takes place. On the other hand, sugar in corn’s leaves will be uses as fuel and unused sugar is stored as starch in the kernel. To collect the starch in the kernel, therefore removed the cover of kernel was needed.
For the manufacture of the corn to plastics, farmer will harvest the corn and send it to milling plant. This is because they are harvesting field corn to make starch. The way of collect starch from the kernel of the corn is the milling plant cooks the corn which causes it to be swelling and soften. The corn is cook for 30 to 40 hours at 122 degree Fahrenheit. Leftover water is used later in the process and in the production of animal feed. The next steps are using the machines grind and screen the corn mixture to isolate the starch. Therefore the starch will convert into sugar.
When the sugar was collected, the next step is to convert to sugar into polymer. In the process the sugar turn to polymer, microorganism will convert the sugar into lactic acid through fermentation. The lactic acid molecules links to form ring called lactide monomer. The lactide rings will opens and links together to form the long chain of polylactide polymer. This is the process of polymerization. The plastic is then formed into pellets and can be used in a wide-range of products including packaging and fibres. For more information, please check the video below.
