Description du projet
Des déchets d’insectes aux bioplastiques écologiques
Dans le domaine en pleine expansion de la production d’insectes pour l’alimentation humaine et animale, la mouche soldat noire (MSN) se distingue par ses prouesses en matière de recyclage des bio-ressources et son contenu nutritionnel élevé. Cependant, le secteur a largement négligé le vaste potentiel de la chitine, un polymère abondant que l’on trouve dans la MSN. Le projet ChitinBioPlastic, financé par le programme MSCA, permet de remédier à cette lacune. Il vise à convertir les déchets de l’industrie de MSN, notamment les mouches mortes et les exuvies de pupes, en chitine et en bioplastiques de grande valeur. La pollution par les plastiques conventionnels atteignant des niveaux critiques, cette entreprise innovante cherche à développer des techniques vertes pour l’extraction de la chitine, afin de garantir une production de bioplastiques respectueuse de l’environnement. Grâce à ses pratiques durables, ChitinBioPlastic ouvre la voie à la production d’insectes, à l’atténuation de la pollution plastique et à la promotion d’un avenir plus vert.
Objectif
Commercial insect production for food and feed is a fast-growing industry. Among different insect species, Black Soldier Flies (BSF) show promising potential due to their efficient bioresource recycling capability and high nutritional values for animal feed applications. In addition, they are an important source of chitin, the second most abundant polymer after cellulose in the world, with diverse industrial applications. The current insect production sector has primarily overlooked the application of chitin, mainly focusing on products associated with nutritional values. However, in the future commercial insect sector will generate a lot of wastes, including dead fly and pupae exuviae. This project aims to provide industrial value to the dead fly and pupae exuviae of BSF industry into chitin and bioplastics, developing and exploiting novel, efficient, and environment-friendly approaches. This is because, from 1950-2015, the world has already generated 6.3 billion MT of plastic, and an estimated 12 billion MT of plastic is predicted to reach landfills by 2050. These plastics slowly disintegrate to generate Micro-Plastics harming life underwater and above land. Thus, we must develop bio-based plastics to replace the heavy use of harmful plastics. This project will extract the chitin from insect by-products and develop it into bioplastics. The current chitin extraction involves the usage of harsh chemicals leading to severe environmental pollution. Therefore, green techniques are needed to extract chitin from these insects. This study will refine and employ cutting edge techniques to extract chitin from BSF. The chitin produced will be suitable for developing bioplastics since the biomass used to make bioplastic will be biodegradable and is not food product. This would be the first study in the insect production sector to develop and apply a green pathway for chitin production and processing to a biodegradable bioplastic.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomology
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processes
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbioplastics
- agricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinateur
8026 Bodo
Norvège