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This biotech startup uses methane-eating bacteria to create fully biodegradable polymers.
Mango Materials is a biotech startup from San Francisco that has come up with an ingenious method for transforming methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into plastic. The process involves feeding methane to bacteria, which then produce a biodegradable polymer (polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA). This polymer can be spun into polyester fabric and used for clothing, carpets, and possibly packaging, although the company is most focused on the garment industry right now.
The methane used by Mango Materials comes from a waste treatment plant in the Bay Area, but the company is looking at partnering with other sources of methane, such as dairy farms, in order to get more. The technology creates value for methane, which is a novel idea.
How long would it take to fart a sweater — are we talking one burrito, or two?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:58AM (13 children)
Your clothes will literally be made out of excrement? Will it smell like shit? Will T-shirts now be short for turd-shirts? What was wrong with wool or cotton again? Personally I would find it somewhat more impressive if they actually stuck to the interesting part, they can turn a waste gas into plastic. Creating value out of Methane? We already do that. It's not like methane was worthless before.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @11:45AM (4 children)
Polyester leisure suits return to fashion. Senior citizens rejoice.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 07 2017, @03:28PM (2 children)
No, no, no! You've got to get the terminology right. It's DOUBLE KNIT polyester that was all the rage. I'll admit, I paid for one. I was young and dumb and full of - - - well, we needn't go there. But, I would never have paid for a plain old polyester suit. Double knit gave it an aura of respectability.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:47PM
I bought a "cheap suit" after graduation - A) it was all I could afford, B) I had gone suit shopping in Europe, Miami, New York - I had a fair idea of what a good suit looked like, C) I was so thin that finding a suit that fit me was hard - so, when I saw it, in my size, I plunked down the $200 without another thought and I had myself a suit that, from 5' away (2' for old people's eyesight) looked like the finest natural materials in an elegant woven pattern.
I wore that suit to a trade show that I worked with an Italian sales guy, he had a better looking suit made of natural materials probably cost 5-10x what mine did, both were looking sharp and well pressed at the start of the first day. By the end of the first day, after sitting down with clients and at lunch, his coat was a spectacle of wrinkles, looked like he had picked it out of a pile before he put it on - mine looked identical to how it did in the morning. Next morning, he had done some pressing / repair and his coat looked sort-of like he cared acceptable, for a guy on international travel at least, mine looked identical to how it did on the first morning. I think on the 3rd day he gave up on the first coat and switched to a backup he had packed. Mine looked identical to how it did on the first morning - zero maintenance, very practical.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @06:12PM
Was it plaid?
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:10PM
As does Larry, Larry Laffer.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:00PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 07 2017, @03:32PM (2 children)
Little known fact, in America, at least. Sheep droppings don't stink. There's no sulfur in the droppings, so they don't stink. If you'd like a pet, but worry about the odors, get a sheep. A ram might knock intruders off their feet, but they can't object to smelly droppings!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:14PM (1 child)
That's not my experience.
I provided instrumentation support for an medical research lab that used sheep and the place definitely had an unpleasant oder.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:19PM
Sheep have a smell, from the lanolin in their wool. Some people find that odor to be unpleasant, some don't. I bet you didn't smell the stench associated with pig manure, or cow manure, or even horse manure. You certainly didn't smell the stench of predatory animals like cats or dogs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:41PM
This isn't about the clothing. This is about sequestering methane.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday October 07 2017, @06:38PM (2 children)
The ultimate feedstocks of cotton plants and sheep are more animal excrement and other "recycled" organics. The ciiiiiircle of liiiiiife....
Seriously, why are they bothering running around catching cow farts when they could tap the fuel streams, or even the flarestacks at refineries?
Oh, and to the article's question of how many burritos for a sweater, I think you'll find the number to be in the thousands.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday October 08 2017, @01:58PM (1 child)
So we should get the special, then?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday October 08 2017, @05:27PM
At least - if you think of it, the burrito generates methane by bacterial decomposition of its own components, so even if conversion was 100% efficient, there's hardly enough mass in one burrito to make a sweater, even a special. Now, factor in ruffage, energy extraction by the burrito eater and their gut bacteria, carbon that gets converted to things other than methane, inefficiencies...
🌻🌻 [google.com]