DocM Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 U. of Bath has come up with a bio-degradable, bio-compatable plastic made from CO2 and sugar (easily sourced from Mars' atmosphere and agricultural plant residues). Besides benefits here on on Earth, this is a prime target for Mars colony ISRU (in-situ resource utiliztion) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170613111639.htm Plastic made from sugar and carbon dioxide > The new BPA-free plastic could potentially replace current polycarbonates in items such as baby bottles and food containers, and since the plastic is bio-compatible, it could also be used for medical implants or as scaffolds for growing tissues or organs for transplant. > "The properties of this new plastic can be fine-tuned by tweaking the chemical structure -- for example we can make the plastic positively charged so that cells can stick to it, making it useful as a scaffold for tissue engineering." Such tissue engineering work has already started in collaboration with Dr Ram Sharma from Chemical Engineering, also part of the CSCT. > Unobscured Vision and Emn1ty 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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