Researchers in Wroc³aw have obtained plastic from flax and are now looking for businesses willing to launch the production of flax bioplastic on an industrial scale.

The raw material for this unusual plastic is genetically modified flax that for five years has been produced and examined by researchers at the Genetic Biochemistry Faculty of Wroc³aw University, headed by Prof. Jan Szopa-Skórkowski.

Modified flax
The process begins with germinating ordinary flaxseeds. When green shoots are sent out, the places where the root turns into the stem (hypocotyl) get artificially infected with bacteria carrying DNA chains with new genes that encode three enzymes to initiate the synthesis of polyhydroxybutyrates. The compounds are prepared so as to reach maximum activity in the process.

The infected plant sections are forced to intensively form new, undifferentiated cells and then undergo a growth process through which the cells begin to differ. The result are new plants, each obtained from a single cell. The plants are then sorted according to the amount of the new gene, and the strongest ones, with the new feature pronounced the most prominently, are picked for further cultivation.

The polymer is synthesized by specialized cell parts in the stem only, and the synthesis does not disturb the plants' normal growth. The new element, which does not exist in normal cells, is biodegradable. Under laboratory conditions, transgenic plants with the new genetic code grow in phytotrons that provide a stable nutrient medium with optimal light, humidity and temperature until the plants can be transplanted to natural conditions, such as a greenhouse or a field. When the plants adapt to the new environment, they start to produce seeds ready to be sown into the ground.

Flax in cars and hospitals
Why would anybody need flax plastic? Prof. Szopa-Skórkowski demonstrates a few small prototype plates made of the material and enumerates its advantages. To begin with, flax plastics are cheaper than ordinary plastics and yet equally durable, he says. What is important, they are easily biodegradable, unlike ordinary plastics, which are a burden to the natural environment. Appropriately processed flax can be used to produce plastic car parts, such as bumpers and household objects. "After all, plastics account for 20 percent of the materials used to make cars," Szopa-Skórkowski says. "If those plastics got replaced with our modified flax, cars would become lighter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly."

The new product can also find application in medicine. It can be used in special dressings, implants and surgical thread thanks to the antioxidant properties of genetically modified flax, beneficial to healing wounds. Researchers around the world are experimenting with materials of natural origin in the production of wound dressings. Such biomaterials are usually combined with fiberglass or ceramic fiber, because they are too fragile on their own, but blends of artificial and natural materials are not too durable, either. The researchers in Wroc³aw have obtained a similar combination, but it is exclusively based on natural components. "We have combined the bioplastic with linen yarn to create a material that is biodegradable as well durable and flexible," Szopa-Skórkowski says .

Creaseproof fabric
All these innovations beg to be used in industrial production. When the research in Wroc³aw got some media publicity, Szopa-Skórkowski was approached by a few companies interested in the subject. "But these were mostly very small businesses that were after a quick and easy profit," he said. "What we want are large investors to tackle the issue on a much grander scale."

For now, the researchers are working with the Madex flax company in Malbork, which has been growing the genetically modified flax from the Wroc³aw laboratory for a few years. Szopa-Skórkowski hopes that this year's harvest will be big enough to produce linen yarn. Interestingly enough, fabrics made of such genetically modified yarn are resistant to creasing.

The researchers have also come up with an idea to sow genetically modified flax seeds on the copper slag heaps of the Kombinat Górniczo-Hutniczy Miedzi (KGHM) copper company, the largest industrial plant in Lower Silesia. Thanks to its special properties, the flax would be able to remove metals from the heaps. Szopa-Skórkowski has suggested this to the management of the copper giant, but so far there has been no interest.

Government supports flax research
"The research on genetically modified flax is a result of pure scientific curiosity," Szopa-Skórkowski said. "It took on a practical dimension after quite a while. I had long been curious about how much I could manipulate living organisms and how plants would respond to my intrusion." The conversion from research to practice was necessitated by the science financing system: In order to receive funds for their research, the scientists had to specify what they wanted to achieve-hence the ideas for the practical application of genetically modified flax.

Last year, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education awarded zl.1.8 million to Szopa-Skórkowski's team, which was the highest grant at Wroc³aw University at the time.
£ukasz Medeksza