Iowa State University Workshop to Promote Development of Biopolymers and Biocomposites

AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University will host a Biopolymers and Biocomposites Workshop Aug. 14 to bring together researchers and industry representatives interested in developing products made from biomass. The workshop is aimed at providing technicians, engineers, designers and companies wanting to incorporate this technology with the tools required to use biopolymers and biocomposites for product design and manufacturing. It will take place in the Memorial Union on the Iowa State campus. The workshop will focus on formulating protein-based polymers, vegetable oil polymers, adhesives, composites and polyesters through fermentation; as well as processing technologies such as injection molding, extrusion, compression molding and casting. Speakers also will cover the assessment of mechanical, thermal and microstructural properties of biopolymers and biocomposites. Speakers from universities and businesses are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m. Tours of Iowa State's Technology Transfer Pilot Plant and Polymer Characterization Laboratory, facilities that do biopolymer and biocomposite research, will conclude the workshop. The workshop is part of a three-day series of workshops related to plastics. More information about the Plastics Manufacturing Technical Resources Workshop on Aug. 13 and the Bioplastic Container Cropping Systems Conference on Aug. 15 is available online. The Biopolymers and Biocomposites Research Team at Iowa State is organizing the workshop. The team was established in 1995 to promote research in the development of biorenewable polymers from Midwest crops, encourage bioplastics in industry and work towards new formulations and processing techniques. The research team operates under the Center for Crops Utilization Research. Workshop registration is open online. The workshop's agenda with information on the plenary and keynote speakers is located online.