Innovative Sustainable Plastics
Creating a Sustainable Future
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#ReturntoEarth
Image AI generated by DALLE
Image AI generated by DALLE
Welcome to my website, which is dedicated to my senior project focusing on creating an algae-based bioplastic.
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I am Kate Sahin, a senior at Concord Academy and a rising freshman at Cornell University. I intend to study Human Biology, Health, and Society to focus on my goal of creating a more equitable and sustainable future.
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My senior project is a culmination of several other pursuits during my Junior year. I’ve always had a passion for science, particularly chemistry, and when I took a material science elective during the spring session, I was immediately drawn in. I was very interested in sustainable materials and understanding why materials behave the way they do. I’m also the founder & co-head of CA’s Business Club, in which we compete in the Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition. I ended up at the intersection of these two interests (Business and Chemistry) when the Business club pitched the idea of a biodegradable algae-based bioplastic dog poop bag. We submitted a business plan and we were awarded top 100 out of 1700 teams internationally in 2023. While the plan was just theoretical and based on research, I thought it would be really interesting to bring our product to life via a senior project. I worked this past semester on developing various algae-based bioplastics to replicate the material discussed in our business plan.
The Project
Since I only had a semester to work on this project, I outlined three variations of the bio-plastic material. The first variation was just agar-agar (extracted from red algae). The second variation built off of the first but included potato starch and sorbitol (a sugar alcohol produced synthetically from glucose or found naturally in some fruits, mainly corn.) The third variation also built off the first but included gelatin and sorbitol. I then decided the third material satisfied my requirements for a durable bioplastic bag but lacked plasticity and hydrophobic so I added silicon oil. After creating the variations of plastic, I tested them all for heat resistance, ability to seal to itself, hydrophicness, and ability to hold weight. Here is the detailed project log I kept during this entire process.
The Procedure
1. Combine all the ingredients in a 1000 mL beaker and stir
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2. Mix thoroughly until there are no clumps
3. Put the beaker onto the hot plate and set it to 7
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4. Put a thermometer in the beaker and wait for the mixture to heat up to 95ËšC
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5. Once the mixture reaches 95ËšC turn off the hot plate and pour the mixture onto a pan with wax parchment paper over it
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6. Let the mixture cool for 3-7 days
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Sustainability
Every year, 11 million metric tons of plastic end up in our beautiful oceans. Carbon emissions have hit 36.6 billion tons in 2022 alone, and if no action is taken the global temperature could rise another 4-8 degrees Celsius. This being said, we must turn to greener technologies in order to preserve our earth.
My goal with Algae Bag is to mitigate plastic waste and carbon emissions created as a by-product of plastic production. The benefits of algae plastic include carbon sequestration, decreasing algae buildup on beaches that cause a toxic environment for humans and animals, and eliminating the use of single-use/unsustainable plastics. Additionally, the production of algae-based bioplastics does not rely on food crops like other bioplastics. These other bioplastics are made from food waste or food crops, which creates a carbon cost.