Oakland, CA — Separate research initiatives in the U.S. and Canada are turning potato starch into high performance bioplastic packaging and using corn germ to reduce the amount of resin in glue.

The Canadian government has created the BioPotato Network, whose multiple objectives include developing film and foam made with potato starch and improving the performance of potato-based bioplastic. Part of the research, led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, will look at developing potatoes with enhanced starch properties in order to better produce the industrial starch needed to make bioplastic.

The project's researchers also hope to find additional potato-based bioplastic applications and improve bioplastic's water resistance and other properties.

The potato project's other goals are to commercialize potato extracts, develop potato varieties with added nutritional benefits, create biopesticides and develop new food processing, cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses for potato compounds.

Corn starch is also highly utilized in making bioplastic, but a researcher with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service has found a new use for a different part of the vegetable, corn germ.

Corn germ is generally used as livestock feed after oil has been extracted from it, but chemist Milagros Hojilla-Evangelista found that corn germ can be used as a protein extender in plywood glues, performing as well as industrial-grade wheat flour, a commonly used extender.

Glue extenders reduce the amount of resin that is needed in glue and also increase their adhesiveness. Hojilla-Evangelista investigated the ability for corn germ to act as an extender in order to see if there are any alternatives to wheat flour, which would give glue makers more options in the case of price fluctuations.

She now plans to see how much more corn germ can be added to glue in order to further lower the amount of resin.

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