This text is part of the special Research section: climate issues
Plastic, this miracle material which has seduced the entire planet since the 1960s, is now one of those which threaten it. While the resistance of this petroleum-based product was once praised, this is precisely what has become its worst flaw. One way to reduce our impact on the environment is to successfully manufacture organic plastic. This is the ambition of Professor Fouad Erchiqui, director of the Bioplasturgy Laboratory at the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), and his students.
Every year, Canadians throw away about four million tonnes of plastic, according to data compiled by Statistics Canada. Only 8% of this plastic is recycled. Result: it is found in landfill sites, but also in natural environments. Microplastics are polluting the oceans, even in the most remote corners of Antarctica, several researchers worry.
Mr. Fouad Erchiqui is one of them. In his laboratory, he tries to find the right recipes for green or semi-green plastic that could be adopted by companies in the automotive, agricultural, medical or aerospace sectors, for example.
“I am very interested in sustainable development,” says the researcher straight away. Moreover, the professor of Moroccan origin, who has lived in Quebec for more than 40 years, has the habit of quoting François Rabelais, the famous French humanist writer of the Renaissance, to his students: “Science without conscience is not what ruin of the soul. »
Waste-based
In his laboratory, set up around fifteen years ago, the professor and his team work to find the best recipes for biocomposites used in the manufacture of organic, biodegradable plastics. One of these known derivatives is PLA, a plastic made from corn. But its big disadvantage, cites Mr. Erchiqui, is that it is made from food…
“The world’s population is increasing exponentially. Land is being sacrificed to build roads. And now we’re going to sacrifice food to make plastic bags? That’s crazy ! »
He instead favors plastic made from waste: potato peelings.
“We make a lot of fries!” We can make polymers with starch. It can then be doped with other polymers to make a material, which will then be used to make a bioplastic product. »
One of Mr. Erchiqui’s challenges, however, remains predicting how the polymer recipe developed by the chemists in his team will react, once transformed. This is because when it is heated, the material deforms. Polymers are not elastic materials, explains Mr. Erchiqui. They have a memory and are therefore rather “viscoelastic”.
“It’s like making a cake,” he explains. You take semolina, flour, you mix, and at the end, the mold will give the shape. If you change the concentration of the semolina, you will have another texture, another property. »
Mr. Erchiqui also uses artificial intelligence to find the right process, between the development of the product and its final form.
“I try to understand the “psychology” of the material,” he explains.
From research to industry
Plastics processing is therefore the equivalent of metallurgy for metals: forming alloys with very precise techniques which make it possible to make durable products, such as bottles, car bumpers, the bases of a boat. …
With his team, Mr. Erchiqui worked to develop biocomposite gears “four times cheaper than nylon and more resistant” and construction formwork (molds intended to hold a construction material perfectly in place), in particular. Currently, researchers are working on creating blades for wind turbines and drones, but also, with Brazilian researchers, on the development of corrugated metal sheets used to protect against rain in rural regions.
But the biggest problem, according to the professor, remains the lack of communication between researchers and the industries that could benefit from their work.
“Some articles really have an impact,” he says. But it remains at the university level. We don’t have any manufacturers in Abitibi, manufacturing products for automobiles or wind turbines. »
“I am not trained to do marketing,” says Mr. Erchiqui. It’s not my job. »
He would therefore like us to develop liaison agents, who would put researchers and companies in touch… to prevent his findings and those of his colleagues from remaining in drawers, when they could have a real impact on the future of the planet.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.