Renewable plastic materials of wheat gluten, scaling up and purification to meet industrial demands
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HÖGSKOLAN - Institutionen för fiber och polymerteknologi |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 446 404 |
| Project duration | November 2016 - June 2017 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Challenge-Driven Innovation – Stage 1 initiation |
Important results from the project
To have a wheat gluten plastic, interesting enough for raw material producers, processing companies and retailers/users to be able to replace partly oil-based plastics.
Expected long term effects
The project has led to the following results; With the initial survey potential products and processing techniques were identified. Based on the initial survey, a rerefence group was created. During a workshop with this group, the requirements on the gluten material from the industrial partners were identified.. A customer survey showed that people were willing to but foods in a gluten plastic and that they could pay 10-20 % more for a product if it is biobased. A limited study also showed that it is possible to injection mould gluten from pelletized material (important for scaling up).
Approach and implementation
The project was divided into the following subprojects: 1. survey on how to use gluten as plastic in the most sustainable way, 2. Targeting potential products and creating a refecence group, 3. Workshop to investigate industrial interest, 4 Customer equirements, 5. Customer survey on the use of gluten material, 6. Scaling up scenario and 7. Gluten properties