Bio-plastic composite containing brewer's spent grains and a method for making the same

Abstract

A method for manufacturing bio-plastic composite containing brewer's spent grains includes the steps of: providing brewer's spent grains; providing petrochemical plastic; mixing the brewer's spent grains with the petrochemical plastic at an addition amount of 10% to 60% wt. of brewer's spent grains and 40% to 90% wt. of petrochemical plastic; and providing a binder at a weight proportion of 8% to 12%. A pretreatment unit which uses a dehydration process, a desiccation process, a drying process, a grinding process and a sieving process to process the brewer's spent grains into brewer's spent grains which have a length-to-diameter ratio of 7.6 to 10.2. A granulator includes a double screw extruder connected with a cutting machine. The double screw extruder mixes the petrochemical plastic and the brewer's spent grains and extrudes them into plastic bars, which are then cut into plastic granules by the cutting machine.