Researchers to Develop Biodegradable Golf Balls

Researchers at the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University (PSU) have partnered with the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council for a two-year project to develop biodegradable golf balls, The Morning Sun reported.  The project is being conducted in two stages: (1) creating the inner part of the golf ball, and (2) creating the harder outer shell.  In the first stage, PSU chemistry professor Ram Gupta said, they are looking at soybean-based materials such as soybean meal for the inner core and soybean-based polymer for the outer layer.  

Gupta and his team have created the soya-based material for the outer layer and have started working on the inner soya meal-based core, according to the report. However, due to a lack of the necessary equipment, the golf balls would not be created in the research center.  Instead, the raw materials would be supplied to a golf ball manufacturer in California, who would produce and test them.

The grant-based project was funded by the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, which announced the research venture this summer as one of its soya check-off supported projects, in which farmers contribute one-half of 1% of the sale price of their soyabeans to research, promotion, and education.