Biomass Energy Conversion Center (BECON)

Blending Biomass with Plastic Resins - Extrusion

A great potential to create biomass-based agricultural market opportunities for Iowa farmers – while increasing energy efficiency and lowering costs in plastics-related industries - is revealed in this research. The project demonstrates the process and market feasibility of blending Iowa biomass resources with plastic resins to create value-added feedstocks for industrial injection molding, extrusion or compression molding applications. This demonstration will produce sound technical and market information for entrepreneurs to use when establishing new Iowa-based business ventures to produce and distribute blended fiber/plastic materials.