Commercialization of Biodegradable Nano-Composites in Malaysia

Principal Investigator (Affiliation)	Prof. SHIRAI Yoshihito Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology
Research Participant	Associate Prof. ANDO Yoshito Kyushu Institute of Technology Organization for Promotion of Research and Open Innovation Associate Prof. MAEDA Toshinari Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology
International Coordinator	Prof. / Dr SHIRAI Yoshihito Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology. MSSC in UPM, Malaysia
Research Institutions in Japan	Kyushu Institute of Technology, Shirai Lab. / Kyushu Institute of Technology, Ando Lab. / Kyushu Institute of Technology, Maeda Lab.
Cooperating Organization in Japan
Partner Country	Malaysia
Research Institutions in Malaysia
Cooperating organization in Malaysia	Universiti Putra Malaysia / Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change ( MESTECC ) / ZoepNano Sdn. Bhd.
Support Organization	Chemicals Evaluation and Research Institute, Japan ( CERI ) / Nextgreen Global Bhd.
General Description of the Research Project	Biodegradable plastics should be one of the keys to solve the ocean plastic issues in the world. However, it is necessary to increase the strength of the plastics for avoiding any damage given during any usual usage. We have developed some Nano-biomass fiber composites whose strength increases more than 150% compared with the mother plastics for the composites in our SATREPS Project supported by JST and JICA last time. Then we also developed a method to produce Cellulose-Nano-Fiber (CNF), which can be fully degraded by microbes in the sea, and successfully commercialized our CNF business in Malaysia through the same project. We shall apply these remarkable results to develop any CNF biodegradable composites and the technologies must be transferred to Malaysia for the commercialization. Parallelly we shall clarify any mechanisms of the biodegradation by microbes in the environment when the CNF biodegradable composites are degraded in the sea.
Links	SHIRAI Laboratory ANDO Laboratory MAEDA Laboratory SATREPS Project JICA技術協力プロジェクトサイト JICA　ODA見える化サイト
Project Updates	(2021/3/8) Project News 2020