Desenvolvimento de mexedores de café de plástico biodegradável a partir do amido de milho

Abstract

Plastic waste is currently considered one of the biggest environmental villains, since it comes from a non-renewable source of petroleum. In addition, the plastic material takes more than 400 years to decompose in the environment, a fact that is enhanced when it has a short useful life, which occurs with single-use plastics, such as coffee stirrers. With population growth, the demand and use of conventional plastic material in the food industry only increases, which is responsible for approximately 20% of plastic consumption in the country. Thinking of a more sustainable alternative to conventional plastic, this work proposes the development of coffee stirrers made of biodegradable plastic from corn starch, with the aid of glycerol (plasticizing additive), through extrusion and thermoforming processes. Based on a theoretical basis and focusing on production on an industrial scale (BIOMEXE proposed here), this research describes the processing of biodegradable coffee stirrers, the mass and energy balances of the process, demonstrates the layout of the manufacturing area, prepares a market analysis that results in the valuation of the product, production cost and return on investment (pay back), as well as notes on effluent treatment. Considering each mixer weighing 5 grams and 11 cm in length, being marketed in packages with 100 units and/or boxes with 200 packages, and processing from batches with an average duration of 60 minutes, this research predicts as a result of processing about 52 million biodegradable stirrers per month.