From spandex to soda bottles, many products could soon be made out of plants, say experts who believe plants may replace petroleum as raw material for textiles and plastics.
An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), a newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, describes how your next pair of spandex pants could be made out of corn - or, more precisely, from dextrose derived from corn.
This option is part of a new wave, albeit a small one, of consumer goods that are being produced from plants rather than petroleum-based materials, the article said.
However, a complete transition to a biobased economy won't be easy, it said.
Melody M Bomgardner, a senior editor at C&EN, noted that a range of companies, from start-up firms to industrial giants, have been searching for ways to fill a growing consumer demand for sustainable materials.
Invista and Genomatica said they will pursue nylon intermediates from sugar. Coca-Cola is making progress toward a 100 per cent biobased soda bottle.
But trading in all conventional materials for ones that might be more sustainable won't be easy, Bomgardner noted.
The main challenge to this shift is economics. Prices for biobased raw materials to feed the supply chain must drop to competitive levels while manufacturers must invest in new facilities to process the raw materials.
