Iowa State University Workshops to Promote Development of Biopolymers, Biocomposites and Plastics

AMES, Iowa -- This month Iowa State University hosts three workshops to bring together researchers and companies in the plastics and bioplastics industry.

"The workshops focused on bioplastics will have speakers and attendees from around the world, putting ISU in the global spotlight of bioplastics research," said David Grewell, chair of Iowa State's Biopolymers and Biocomposites Research Team and associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering. 

The team is organizing the Biopolymers and Biocomposites Workshop on Aug. 14, located in Iowa State's Memorial Union. It is the second of the meetings related to plastics.

The Plastics Manufacturing Technical Resources Workshop is scheduled for Aug. 13 at the Memorial Union. The workshop will provide plastic companies with information on material selection, manufacturing and the latest plastics technology trends. 

On Aug. 15, the Bioplastic Container Cropping Systems Conference will bring together researchers and stakeholders from the biomaterials, plastics and horticulture industries to advance the use of biorenewable, biodegradable plastic containers for the horticulture industry.

Grewell said the bioplastics workshop on Aug. 14 includes several excellent speakers including a researcher from the laboratory of Ohio State University's Arthur Epstein, who will discuss electrically conductive polymers, and Steve Severtson of the University of Minnesota on biorenewable adhesives.

"Anyone coming away from this workshop will have a good fundamental grasp of bioplastics after the wide range of presentations, from material selection by Erwin Baur of German-based M-Base Engineering + Software to designing with bioplastics by Chad Ulven from North Dakota State University to the use of bioplastics in industrial applications from companies NatureWorks and Metabolix," Grewell said.

The workshop is aimed at technicians, engineers and designers at companies wanting to incorporate this technology to provide the tools required to use biopolymers and biocomposites for product design and manufacturing. Grewell said scientists from Europe and Asia are attending because of continuing education credits being offered. 

Speakers from universities and businesses are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m. Aug. 14. Tours of Iowa State facilities that do biopolymer and biocomposite research will conclude the workshop.