Project description
Transforming food waste into valuable resources
Imagine a world where food waste (FW) is not a burden but a valuable resource. Every year, nearly one-third of the world's food production is wasted, resulting in significant resource depletion and environmental damage. Traditional management methods fall short, revealing an urgent need for innovative solutions. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Waste4Bio project aims at revolutionising the way we deal with FW by creating an advanced multi-platform biorefinery. Waste4Bio will convert FW into near-pure biohydrogen (bioH2), microalgal biomass, and biodegradable biopolymers (PHAs) through the development and application of well-engineered bioH2-producing reactors, algal-bacterial photobioreactors, and anoxygenic fermenters. By improving our understanding of the microbiome involved at each stage of the FW biorefinery, Waste4Bio seeks to maximise efficiency and output.
Objective
Food waste (FW) is a significant global issue, with around one-third of all food produced wasted annually. FW biorefineries constitutes a green route to valorise the enormous untapped potential of FW via its bioconversion into marketable products and fuels in a circular bioeconomy scheme. However, to date, FW biorefineries have not reached the maturity level needed for full-scale and widespread application. To meet the European Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goals, Waste4Bio project aims at engineering and validating an innovative, cost-competitive FW biorefinery for the cascade production of biohydrogen (bioH2) and biodegradable biopolymers (polyhydroxyalkanoates; PHAs). To this end, Waste4Bio will go beyond of the state-of-the-art of dark fermentation to design advanced mass transfer hydrogen-producing fermenters able to support a high density of biocatalyst and a superior bioH2 production performance. Waste4Bio will also upgrade the acidogenic gas mixture evolved by using well-engineered outdoor algal-bacterial photobioreactors to produce near-pure bioH2 and treat the carbon dioxide into algal biomass, contributing to a net-zero carbon balance for FW valorisation. In addition, the DF broth rich in short-chain carboxylic compounds will be further valorised for highly efficient PHA production with purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB). This action also aims at bringing deeper understanding of the microbiome, and its associated potential functionality and ecological interactions, involved in every fermentative bioH2 production, photosynthetic bioH2 upgrading, and PPB-based PHA production stage. Waste4Bio with transferable skills and a cross-sectoral nature will apply a cross-disciplinary approach involving bioprocess and chemical engineering, environmental biotechnology and microbiology and bioinformatics. A techno-economic model and a market-uptake roadmap will also be created to facilitate the fully exploitation of Waste4Bio.
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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences economics and business economics bioeconomy
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis biocatalysis
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials bioplastics polyhydroxyalkanoates
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
47002 VALLADOLID
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.