Universidad de Puerto Rico-Cayey

Departamento de Biología

Cayey, P.R. 00736

Proposal Research

María Alejandra Rosa Vázquez

RISE Program-Summer

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The rice fiber as a substitute for the disposable ware

The pollution with disposable ware is a great problem, in these days, that affects

every organism on Earth. This research proposal tries to solve this situation by giving an

alternative in the production of disposable ware. This will be possible by using the rice

fiberto do disposable ware that will have the same usage of plastic disposable ware, but

they will be functional to the environment; its degradation will take a short time.

The main character of this work is the rice, which contains thiamine, riboflavin,

niacin, phosphorus, iron, potassium, carbon hydrates, vitamins, etc. It’s very important

in today’s source of alimentation; it provides the 20% of the world’s dietary energy

supply. Because of that, there’s a great waste of the outer layer of the grain, which is

removed in the refining process. This makes the rice a perfect candidate for this work

because I will be using all the waste of it to do something beneficial to everyone.

Another good quality of the rice is that it has a short time degradation of about 140-180

days. Despite all this, the reality is that we still doing plastic ware which takes 500 years

to degraded. It also contributes to the greenhouse gasses; the technique that they use

to produce this plastic disposable ware is causing the increasing of the gasses that

affect and generates the global warning. This kind of pollution affects our homes by

causing floods when they enter into the drainage lines and chores. Not only our homes

became affect, but our environment; the 90% of the articles found at the sea beaches

are compose of plastic. This percent means that the pollution with this material is

increasing every day. Not only that, this material is affecting us directly because it can

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cause damages to the central nervous system. For all that, this work will develop a kind

of material using the rice fiber as the main source, which will help to decrease the

pollution. After that, I will determine the resistance of this new product in different

temperature, pH and exposure to liquids (water, orange juice and soda).

This project is dividing in two phases to have a better manage and control of the

experiment. The phase I consist in developing the material. There will be use the

process of fermentation to create a paste with the rice fiber that will end in distillation,

where the liquid will boil and then evaporate. After this, some prototypes will be

elaborate from the new material to continue to the next phase. In the phase II, the

prototypes will have three resistance tests. The first one consists in test the

temperature: the prototypes will be exposing in temperatures between 60℉ to 400℉,

which are the conditions of the daily use with the food; at 5, 10 and 30 minutes each

temperature. The second one is the test of pH: the prototypes will be place in solutions

with a pH between 2 to 8, the solutions will be food those we us daily; each pH will be

expose for 5, 10 and 30 minutes. The third test is with liquids: the prototypes will be

exposing for 5, 10 and 30 minutes in water, orange juice and soda. The results of each

test will be tabulate in a table, which will be examining at the end of the experiment.

After this work, I will use the new material to develop disposable wares (cups and

plates). The finality of this is to, in a near future, substitute the plastic disposable ware

for rice fiber disposable ware. This will contribute to the decreasing of the pollution with

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plastic and after many years the eradication of it. For continue with this kind of material

(rice fiber) I want to determine and create cups for hot and cold liquids. This will be a

great change of life that will help every organism and nature of the world and will

improve to a better future to the next generations.

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References

1. Gerald Audesirk, Teresa Audesirk. 1997. Biologia: La vida en la Tierra. Cuarta

Edicion. Compania Editorial Ultra, S.A. Capitulo 8: Produccion de energia a partir

de alimentos: glucolisis y respiracion celular. Pagina: 145.

2. Mariana Alvarez; Contaminacion del plastic; June 2009 www.ecologia2009-

ecomundo2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/contaminacion-del-plastico.html

3. Naomi Szeben; Biodegradable Cutlery and Paper Plates; May 7, 2009;

www.reducing-waste.suite101.com/articledm/biodegradable_cutlery_and_paper_

plates.

4. Unknown author; Desechos plasticos inundanbla Tierra; May 7, 2004;

www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/science/newsid3692000/3692397.stm

5. Unknown author; From Plants to Petroleum: Chemists convert Surplus Corn into

Plastic; May 2000; www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1281896.html

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