The growing negative impacts of non-biodegradable plastics derived from non-renewable materials have created increasing interest throughout the world for new materials that are both biodegradable and renewable, that can be combined with or replace traditional plastics. Plant-based thermoplastic starch (TPS), a promising alternative material to traditional petroleum based resin, is both biodegradable and renewable and has great potential for use in plastic manufacturing processes. Two major obstacles that prevent more widespread use of TPS include; TPS base material, which is typically manufactured in a flake or powder, is incompatible with standard plastics production equipment that require pelletized resin, the second reason is that TPS is difficult to mix with standard plastic materials such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). BiologiQ of Blackfoot Idaho through a unique manufacturing process has created a new type of TPS called EcoStarch™ Resin (ESR) that overcomes these two obstacles the material can be both pelletized and combined with various standard base plastics such as HDPE. This study evaluated and characterized the processability materials properties of ESR and HDPE blends in the Extrusion Blow Molding (EBM) by measuring wall thickness, tensile strength, tensile elongation, modulus of elongation and formability compared to 100% HDPE bottles. As the ESR content increased the uniformity of the wall thickness increased. The tensile strength increased from ESR content of 30% to 50% while the elongation decreased. Bottles were successfully extrusion blow molded with ESR content of 50%.

The current and forecasted global consumption of plastic packaging and products through the 21st century combined with the already reported and growing negative impact of plastics on the environment due to plastics being synthesized from nonrenewable resources that do not biodegrade is of serious concern. However, recent advances in starch technology including the development of thermoplastic starch (TPS) materials —polymers that are both renewable and biodegradable—have brought hope to reducing this impact. The mechanical properties of thermoplastic starch have often been improved by blending with synthetic polymers. One issue that arises with blending is volatilization of the melt from moisture in the TPS materials. Ecostarch™ a proprietary, pelletized thermoplastic starch resin formulated from potato starch, was processed and tested to observe injection molding processability at various moisture levels, in pure TPS as well as various blend ratios with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). This study evaluated and analyzed the effects of the TPS pellet moisture content on void formation in the plastic pre-injection melt and subsequent molded part mechanical properties. Statistical analysis of the test results showed that moisture had a significant effect on void formation in the plastic melt. In TPS/HDPE blends, voids percent (as measured by cross section area) increased by 300-350% from 0.6% to 1.4% moisture levels. In unblended TPS, void percent increased by 150% from 0.4% to 1.4% moisture levels. In the unblended TPS parts, impact strength (energy in ft-lb) was decreased by 1% from 0.6% to 1.4% moisture level. In the TPS/HDPE and TPS/PP blends, there was no significant effect on impact strength due to the moisture percent levels of the TPS. Modulus decreased by 25% from 0.4% to 1.4% moisture level in unblended TPS parts. From 0.6% to 1.4% change in TPS moisture content, the modulus of the TPS/HDPE blend decreased by 9% at a 30% TPS/70% HDPE blend and decreased by 14% at a 70% TPS/30% HDPE blend. Though the moisture of TPS did not have a significant impact on the tensile strength of TPS/HDPE blends, the tensile strength of TPS/PP blend samples were significantly affected: a change from 0.6% to 1.4% moisture increased tensile strength 34% at a 70% TPS/30% PP blend and increased tensile strength by 22% at a 30% TPS/70% PP blend. Thus the results of this study highlight the relationships between moisture, voids, and mechanical performance of TPS and TPS/Polymer blends.