Milk stout: UK universities to develop tough, biodegradable nanocomposite from coconut gel

摘要

Engineers at Imperial College London and Manchester University are planning to use a gel product from coconut milk to develop a biodegradable nanocomposite. As well as being a traditional Philippine dessert, the researchers say that the gel -nata de coco - is a bacterial cellulose sugar compound that has the appropriate mechanical properties to reinforce bio-derived polymer nanocomposites for applications in the automotive, construction and packaging industries. 'With oil prices increasing and renewable resources becoming more of an interest in the general area, our interest is to develop materials with triggered biodegradability for low-load but high-volume applications,' said Imperial composite engineer Dr Alexander Bismarck.