{"id":10501,"date":"2026-04-17T10:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/blog\/biomass-and-bioplastics-understanding-the-role-of-biomass-in-biobased-plastics\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:13:18","slug":"biomass","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/blog\/biomass\/","title":{"rendered":"Biomass and bioplastics: understanding the role of biomass in biobased plastics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The term biomass is often used when talking about bioplastics and biobased materials. Yet it sometimes remains abstract or misinterpreted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding what &#8220;biomass&#8221; actually means is important to better grasp the origins of the raw materials used to manufacture certain plastics and the associated issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the field of bioplastics, biomass is a renewable carbon source that can replace, totally or partially, carbon from fossil resources.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is biomass?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Biomass refers to all organic matter of biological origin, whether plant or animal, that can be used as a resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It therefore comes from living or recently living organisms. In the industrial context, biomass is used to produce different types of materials, energy or chemical molecules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the field of bioplastics, biomass is used as a raw material to produce biobased polymers, i.e. the long molecular chains that make up plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biomass can come from a variety of sources, such as :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Agricultural crops (corn, sugar cane, sugar beet, wheat)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wood<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Agricultural residues<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Industrial by-products<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Certain types of algae<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Divided into different categories (1st generation, 2nd generation and 3rd generation):  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1410\" src=\"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-1024x722.png\" alt=\"english biomass\" class=\"wp-image-10505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-1024x722.png 1024w, https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-768x541.png 768w, https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-1536x1083.png 1536w, https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-800x564.png 800w, https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These resources contain carbon of renewable origin, captured from the atmosphere by plants during photosynthesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What&#8217;s the link between biomass and bioplastics?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Biomass is the raw material for biobased plastics. Through various transformation processes (fermentation, extraction, chemical synthesis), it can be converted into intermediate molecules, then into polymers that can be used to manufacture plastics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, certain plant sugars can be fermented to produce molecules that can then be used to manufacture polymers such as PLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on the process and the chemistry used, these polymers can have a wide range of properties, including rigidity, transparency, mechanical strength and flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to note that the presence of biomass in a plastic only indicates the origin of the carbon used.<br>It is not sufficient on its own to determine the material&#8217;s environmental properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The terms biomass, biobased and biodegradable are often associated, yet they are not the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Biomass: resource of biological origin used as a raw material<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Biobased: the proportion of carbon in a material that comes from biomass.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Biodegradable: the ability of a material to decompose under the action of micro-organisms, under specific conditions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Biomass concerns the beginning of the chain, while biodegradability concerns the end of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The challenges  <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Integrating biomass into plastics manufacturing serves several purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly, it reduces dependence on fossil resources such as oil or natural gas. By using renewable carbon, biobased plastics help to diversify sources of raw materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biomass can also be used to recover certain agricultural and industrial residues and by-products, which can then be reused in the manufacture of materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach is often in line with the development of the circular economy, promoting the use of renewable resources and the valorization of existing material flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the environmental impact of these materials depends on many factors, including :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The origin of the biomass used<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Associated agricultural or forestry practices<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The transformation processes required to obtain the final polymer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Product end-of-life management<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The use of biomass alone is no guarantee of reduced environmental impact. It is the entire life cycle of the material that needs to be taken into account.<del><\/del>more precise and objective assessment of bioplastics, and to avoid frequent confusion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10497,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie-blog":[186],"class_list":["post-10501","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-blog-bioplastic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/10501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categorie-blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natureplast.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categorie-blog?post=10501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}