07/14/2002 (Asia Intelligence Wire) - HERE'S a terribly sexy idea:supposing we could grow plastic, like we grow rice or rambutans? We'dnever have to worry about running out of petroleum. It would be cheap but,more importantly, biodegradable.A consortium of Malaysian scientists, working with the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, is designing a way to harvest plastic from thefronds of oil palm trees.Why the fronds? Because getting it in the oil would confuse, not tomention scare, entire populations of consumers. And fronds have so farbeen a low-value part of the tree."In theory, all it needs are rain and sunshine,"says Ruslan Abdullah,associate professor of plant genetics at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia'sSchool of BioSciences and Biotechnology.In reality, it's more workable than earlier attempts at getting bacteriato produce biodegradable plastic although it borrows genes from the samesource."Plants don't readily produce plastic but some bacteria do," says Ruslan."We've implanted those bacterial genes into oil palm. The plants are aboutsix months old. In about a year, we should see this plastic."Ruslan and his team of researchers implanted the two plastic-making genesfrom the bacteria Ralstonia eutropha. That's genetic engineering.But to get bioplastic, it's metabolic engineering at work: active aminoacids from one of those genes piggyback on a series of biochemicalreactions that normally take place within the tree, and trick the frond'scells into storing the bioplastic.Ruslan's assignment - part of the five-year multi-agency Malaysia-MITBiotechnology Partnership Programme - is to park those genes in the rightplace."We want plastic in the leaves," says Ruslan, "we don't want it in the oilor anywhere else. There are good reasons for that."Palm oil is good as it is. To install plastic into it - even if it'sedible like those funny sweet wrappers - would stir up a stingingpsychological hornet's nest that may shatter palm oil's well-entrenchedposition in the food market.Oil palm fronds, on the other hand, are low-value and traditionally gointo compost, animal feed and to a smaller degree, biomass fuel.Still, the most powerful driver in this is the prospect that the worldwill runout of petroleum - the traditional source of plastic - in lessthan 50 years. For over a decade now, scientists have been desperatelyhunting for alternatives because no matter what social engineers havetried, people won't give up their plastic."Petroleum-sourced plastic is made of non-degradable polyethylene," saysRuslan. "That's always been a problem. Bioplastic is made of carbon,oxygen and hydrogen, the stuff the earth is made of. And if it grows ontrees, then it would be renewable."Bioplastic's best-known building blocks are polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) andpolyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), both entirely biodegradable. In nature, severalkinds of bacteria produce these substances. Typically, they convertcarbohydrates into a polymer and store it in their cell walls.Evolution theorists think polymer-filled cell walls might be a reservoirof food when it's scarce, like human bodies store fat, or possibly, afortress impenetrable to viruses and other invaders.That's what prompted the first attempts at making bioplastic. But infactories, getting bacteria to do it is expensive because the microbesneeded a rich diet of sugars, starches and fats, pampering in the rightenvironment plus a process to crack those cell walls to extrudebioplastic.The most famous of these is the proprietary Biopol, developed by ICI inBritain, acquired by Zeneca by way of merger, then sold to Monsanto, whichhas since put it up for sale. Biopol, although it degrades efficiently inlandfills, does not have many customers at RM28 per kilogramme. Syntheticplastic costs about RM2 per kg.Already, British and US scientists have turned to getting plants likecanola and rapeseed to produce bioplastic, also by implanting a gene froma plastic-making bacterium. But some plants have forseeable problems:after harvesting the useful part (oilseed or whatever), you need to chopthe plant down to process for bioplastic. Then you plant again. Would thatbe expensive?With oil palm, the tree stays, usually for more than two decades. Thefruit is taken for the oil people. The fronds, which fall off and getcleared every day in any case, present little change to existingplantation practice.No matter how exciting all this sounds, the bridge between bioplastic inoil palm fronds and actual usefulness has not been built yet. Will it beeasy to process? Will it be a good quality plastic? Would it be strongenough for a plastic bag or for the dashboard of a car? Will it beeconomical?At the Malaysian Palm Oil Board - co-ordinator of the Malaysia-MITcollaboration - researchers are investigating these issues."It's exciting but still very early days," says Ruslan. "We're likely tosee the real picture in about 5 years. The combined body of research willshow us what really works."

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