Biodegradable Plastic Media Blast Materials

Plastic media blasting (PMB) is a process used to rapidly remove coatings from almost any product. current PMB materials, however, are not easy to dispose of once they have been used. The focus of this proposal is to identify new PMB materials that can meet the following requirements: compatibility with existing PMB materials; stripping rates competitive with state of the art PMB materials; and, complete biodegradability to carbon dioxide and water. Specifically, Metabolix plans to determine the feasibility of using polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) thermoplastics as PMB materials to meet these requirements. Metabolix's technology can be used to manufacture new and existing PHA thermoplastics at economical prices. These materials are totally biodegradable and may be ideal materials for PMB. The objectives will be to: prepare different formulations of PHA thermoplastics for blasting; and, determine the strip rates of these PHA materials in PMB. PMB is already used extensively by the US Air Force, Boeing and America West for the exterior stripping of aircraft. In addition, there are many other applications which include the dry stripping or cleaning of: marine vessels; machinery, engines and equipment; trucks and containers; injection molds; and, ground transportation vehicles and equipment.