hi,
i think we have had enough of a debate on the source and we think algal bioplastics would be a better idea than bioplastics from corn or maize....
algae-------oil+biomass
/ \
sold to biofuel used for bioplastics
manufacturers
the algae has about 30%biomass.....which will be retained after oil extraction.....this will be fermented to produce lactic acid...which is then polymerised to polylactide...this is then converted to pellets or products.
and this was what prof ramachandran said that u are just proposing a b plan... not an actual plant!! good so i think we will stick to the algae and sale of algal oil concept...
he is working on production of PHA from glycerol but according to him glycerol is not available at cheap rates...and he also said that algal bioplastics would be expensive...but when i asked him about the oil extract being used for biodiesel production and biomass being used for bioplastic production he said it might be feasible...depends on the process...he was also aware of the fact that the gov. has allocated 250 acres of land in tamil nadu for algal cultivation to be used for biodiesel...he said that till now however algae was only cultivated for medicinal use in india and many companies did it!!