Biomaterial: Biodegradable products made from eggshells, to replace common plastics.

Abstract

In order to reduce the pollution generated by the large quantities of conventional plastics used daily such as expanded polystyrene which, given its petroleum-based origin, does not have the ability to biodegrade over time, the need arises to mitigate the environmental impact caused by the use of these materials. For this reason, the idea of creating a biomaterial from organic waste such as eggshell was born, which, as the main biological component, gives it rigidity, resistance and greater decomposition capacity, thanks to its high concentration of between 96-98% calcium carbonate (Krystala, 2020); flavorless gelatin was used as an additive.  which greatly influences the consistency, solidifying the mixture, as well as the water, which facilitates the homogenization of the ingredients during cooking at low temperature. Three tests were performed, in two of which sensitivity to frailty was identified as the main developmental failure. To obtain an improvement in the structure, a higher proportion of eggshell was added, which gave the desired firmness in the biomaterial. With the use of a sclerometer, a resistance analysis was performed, obtaining 86% performance.