Project description
Understanding plant proteins' phase behaviour for bio-based polymeric materials
The large-scale production of plant protein-based plastic alternatives is currently hampered by a lack of detailed understanding of the phase behaviour of plant proteins. The EU-funded ScalePlantProt project will investigate, for the first time, the key phase transition of plant proteins – thermal phase transition and phase separation. The aim is to unite traditional polymer science regarding phase transition and molecular understanding of proteins. The initiative's findings will enable the development of two primary products for sustainable plastic replacement, i.e. microcapsules and thermoplastic flexible films. The materials obtained can be manufactured using conventional industrial platforms for polymer processing, making them competitive with bio-based polymeric materials currently on the market, or even synthetic plastic materials, and boosting the European green-material market.
Objective
Drawing on the expertise from the Experienced Researcher, this MSCA application aims to significantly advance the understanding of phase behaviour in plant proteins, to enable development of two primary products for sustainable plastic replacement, microcapsules and thermoplastic flexible films. Currently, large-scale production of plant protein based plastic alternatives is hampered by a lack of advanced knowledge of the phase behaviour of plant proteins. This research programme thus aims to for the first time systematically investigate the key phase transition of plant proteins — thermal phase transition and phase separation. This objective will be achieved by uniting two sets of skills: i) the Experienced Researcher’s expertise in plant protein self-assembly and ii) specialized knowledge of chemists, engineers and business management at Xampla Ltd for the commercially successful application of plant protein materials. The breakthrough aspect will be uniting traditional polymer science regarding phase transition and molecular understanding of proteins – the obtained materials can be manufactured using established industrial platform used for polymer processing. The approach thus makes the products competitive with current bio-based polymeric materials in market, or even synthetic plastic materials. Therefore, the research program will boost the European green-material market and addresses the Horizon 2020 societal and economic challenges.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and management
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Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
CB4 0FW Cambridge
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.