The history of tomorrow's materials: Protein-based biopolymers

Although agriculture-based plastics have been around for over a century, they were largely forgotten after the advent of synthetic, fossil-fuel-based polymers. This article revisits the literature left to us by early-20th-century engineers who made protein-based plastics from casein and soy protein on an industrial scale, and recounts early research on and applications of biopolymers; such as casein and soy protein-based plastics.