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Your Future Clothes Could be Made from Methane

posted by martyb on Saturday October 07 2017, @10:50AM   
from the future-looks...ripe dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

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?

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Original Submission

• Value for methane? Value for methane? (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:01PM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:01PM (#578549)

  I thought methane was already valuable. Isn't it already being burned to produce energy?

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• Re:Value for methane? (Score: 3, Informative) by fraxinus-tree on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:50PM

  by fraxinus-tree (5590) on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:50PM (#578564)

  Yes, it is. It is also used in industrial scale in various chemical processes, including production of polymers, plastics and fabrics.

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• ''methane [is] already valuable'' (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:38PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 07 2017, @09:38PM (#578658)

  It isn't difficult to find images which demonstrate that, not so long ago, natural gas was considered to be of little value in the petroleum extraction process and just burned off to no advantage. [google.com]

  That's changed significantly in recent years.

  ...and the less stuff we burn (replacing that with renewable energy sources), the longer we can put off a global warming catastrophe with coastal cities/countries under water, resulting in massive monetary losses; Pacific islands under water, resulting in many climate refugees; bigger, more destructive storms; reduced mountain snowpack resulting in less fresh water during the summer; more and longer droughts; reduced crop yields; food production pushed northward, away from traditional farming areas; etc.

  -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

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