Dr. Ravi Gupta received a 20-year patent to make low-cost Bioplastic using bacteria and cow dung
Lucknow desk (R L Pandey). Dr. Ravi Gupta of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University has been awarded a Patent for 20 years from the Indian Government for the production of low-cost Bioplastic using cow dung and novel bacteria. On this occasion, Prof. Raj Kumar Mittal, Vice Chancellor of BBAU congratulated Dr. Ravi Gupta and his team and while describing their success as a matter of pride for the University, Prof. Mittal emphasized the commercialization of Bioplastic. Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Dean of the School of Earth and Environmental Science was present on this occasion.
According to the information given by Dr. Ravi Gupta, Petroleum-based synthetic plastic is one of the most used materials in daily life which results in the accumulation of non-degradable waste material that stays in the environment for thousands of years and creates plastic pollution. Many species on the earth suffer from pollution caused by plastic and it is one of the leading causes of global warming. For sustainable development, we need to protect our environment from plastic pollution by making use of biodegradable materials.
Biodegradable materials with plastic-like properties have been made from biomass such as sugarcane, corn, wheat, rice, banana peels etc. Such desirable properties are also present in Polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB) synthesized by microorganisms.
Several types of PHBs have been discovered from bacteria and used as bioplastic candidates. However, there are major challenges also, such as high production cost and expensive raw materials which limit its commercial applications.
Dr. Ravi Gupta also said that our study systematically screens and characterizes PHB-accumulating bacteria. To make the PHB production cost-effective, we have developed a modified cow dung-based medium for the growth of bacteria. We have reduced the cost of bioplastic production by this method to around 200 times less, compared to commercially available PHB. We had filled the Indian patent for this novel methodology for the production of Bioplastic using cow dung medium in 2023. The Patent Office, Government of India after careful scrutiny has issued a Patent certificate to us for 20 years.