Plastic Made From Algae Is Crazy Green

Just imagine if all the plastic around us was made from algae. We’d have thoroughly green car parts, bottles, containers, keyboards. In several years, this could be real. A California-based company is currently putting their algae plastic prototype to the test.

A few years ago, Frederic Scheer, the founder and CEO of bioplastic maker Cereplast noticed that algae was getting buzz for its potential as a fuel source. About 18 months ago, he got the dry biomass leftover once the oil had been extracted and got to work.

Cereplast dries the biomass even further until it becomes a powder. For this stage of development, they’re making a hybrid prototype. Organic ingredients and polypropylene or another traditional resin is mixed with between 35 and 50 percent algae powder using a proprietary process.

Analysis by Alyssa Danigelis

Full Story: http://news.discovery.com/tech/plastic-made-from-algae-is-crazy-green.html