Every year, the EU emits 13.4 Mt of CO2 solely from plastic production, with 99% of all plastics being produced from fossil fuel sources, while those that are produced from renewable sources use food products as feedstocks. In 2019, 29 Mt of plastic waste was collected in Europe. It is estimated that 32% was recycled, 43% was incinerated and 25% was sent to landfill. It has been estimated that life-sciences (biology, medicine, etc.) alone create plastic waste of approximately 5.5 Mt/yr, the majority being disposed of by incineration. The vast majority of this plastic waste is made from fossil fuel sources, though there is a growing interest in the possible use of bioplastics as a viable alternative for single-use lab consumables, such as petri dishes, pipette tips, etc. However, to-date only limited bioplastic replacement examples exist. In this review, common polymers used for labware are discussed, along with examining the possibility of replacing these materials with bioplastics, specifically polylactic acid (PLA). The material properties of PLA are described, along with possible functional improvements dure to additives. Finally, the standards and benchmarks needed for assessing bioplastics produced for labware components are reviewed.

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D-lactic acid (DLA) serves as a key monomer enhancing both the mechanical and thermal properties of Poly(lactic) acid films and coatings, extensively used in the food packaging industry. Economically viable production of optically pure DLA by Lactobacillus delbrueckii NBRC3202 was achieved using a low-cost carbon source, Kodo millet bran residue hydrolysate (KMBRH) and nitrogen source (casein enzyme hydrolysate (CEH) resulting in a high DLA yield of 0.99 g g -1 and KMBRH conversion to final product (95.3%). The optimum values for kinetic parameters viz., specific growth rate (0.11 h -1 ), yield coefficient of biomass on KMBRH (0.10 g g -1 ) and DLA productivity (0.45 g L -1 h -1 ) were achieved at 5 g L -1 of CEH dosage under controlled pH environment. A comparative study and kinetic analysis of different neutralizing agents (NaOH, NH 3 , CaCO 3 and NaHCO 3 ) under pH controlled environment for KMBRH based DLA production was addressed effectively through bioreactor scale experiments. Maximum cell concentration (1.29 g L -1 ) and DLA titer (45.08 g L -1 ) were observed with NH 3 as a neutralizing agent. Kinetic analysis of DLA production under different neutralization agents demonstrated that the logistic derived model predicted biomass growth, KMBRH consumption and DLA production efficiently (R 2 [ 0.92).

Hyaluronic acid (HA) production using a dairy industrial waste is a more cost-efficient strategy than using an expensive synthetic medium. In this study, we investigated the production of HA using Streptococcus thermophilus under shake flask conditions using dairy industrial waste as nutritional supplements, namely whey permeate (WP) and whey protein hydrolysate (WPH). Preliminary screening using Plackett-Burman design exhibited WP, WPH, initial pH, and inoculum size as significant factors influencing HA titer. Response surface methodology design of four factors was formulated at three levels for enhanced production of HA. Shake flask HA fermentation by S. thermophilus was performed under global optimized process conditions and the optimal HA titer (342.93 mg L(-1)) corroborates with Box-Behnken design prediction. The molecular weight of HA was elucidated as 9.22-9.46 kDa. The ultralow-molecular weight HA reported in this study has a potential role in drug and gene delivery applications.

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