Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan are looking for higher value uses for pulse starch which could include things like bioplastics and biomedical materials.

The federal and provincial government are funding a five year program to the tune of 2.5 million dollars.

The University of Saskatchewan project will by led by Dr. Yongfeng Ai, who has been working with pulse starches for more than five years.

“We are going to also use the starch to create fermented protein, which is another good source of protein for human food and animal feed applications” said Ai. “We’re also going to work collectively to create new bioplastics and new biomedical materials.”

The strong gelling and film-forming ability of pulse starches can make them useful in bioplastic and biomedical material. They are also higher biodegradable and compostable.