Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ReBioCycle (A new European blueprint for circular bioplastics upcycling solutions)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-10-01 al 2025-09-30
The world is dependent on fossil based polymers for applications such as food packaging, clothing, transportation (cars/buses/trains have many plastic components). Despite efforts to develop a circular plastic economy the dependency on depleting polluting fossil based resources (oil and gas) to make plastics makes it impossible to have a circular fossil plastic. Biobased plastics can be truly circular but without evidence of their recyclability it is difficult to convince policy makers and industry of their value and utility in the circular economy.
The overarching aim of ReBioCycle is to provide evidence of the recyclability of biobased biodegradable plastics at a significant enough scale to convince key stakeholders in the public and private sectors that biobased biodegradable plastics are a key material in the circular economy so that policy, standards and investment will flow to deliver impact for society in the transition away from fossil economy to circular biobased one.
ReBioCycle addresses the recycling of biobased biodegradable plastics and focuses on three of these materials, namely, Polylactic acid , Polyhydroxyalkanoate, and composites based on thermoplastic starch.
We address the challenge of recycling through the development of three replicable units (HUBs) with the aim of reaching demo scale by the end of the project
The recycling technologies are mechanical, chemical and biological with the aim to achieve a recycled plastic with the same or superior grade and/or with other higher value applications.
All three hubs are using sorting facilities (NL Hub - NCTP (Friesland NL) , IT hub IREN Group waste sorting facility (Piedmont, Italy) and SAV waste sorting facility (Valencia, Spain)
The overarching aim of ReBioCycle is to provide evidence of the recyclability of biobased biodegradable plastics at a significant enough scale to convince key stakeholders in the public and private sectors that biobased biodegradable plastics are a key material in the circular economy so that policy, standards and investment will flow to deliver impact for society in the transition away from fossil economy to circular biobased one.
ReBioCycle addresses the recycling of biobased biodegradable plastics and focuses on three of these materials, namely, Polylactic acid , Polyhydroxyalkanoate, and composites based on thermoplastic starch.
We address the challenge of recycling through the development of three replicable units (HUBs) with the aim of reaching demo scale by the end of the project
The recycling technologies are mechanical, chemical and biological with the aim to achieve a recycled plastic with the same or superior grade and/or with other higher value applications.
All three hubs are using sorting facilities (NL Hub - NCTP (Friesland NL) , IT hub IREN Group waste sorting facility (Piedmont, Italy) and SAV waste sorting facility (Valencia, Spain)
ReBiocycle is developing and integrating technologies for the scale up of recycling of biobased biodegradable plastics through dedicated work packages and the establishment of three hubs (NL, IT, ES).
In WP2, the Hub leaders coordinated the successful sourcing and logistics management of the bioplastics packaging (PLA, PHA, Composites) from market suppliers and partners. Waste collection activities in the 3 Hubs is in progress. Near-infrared (NIR)detection has been successfully implemented for bioplastic separation in mixed waste streams.
In WP3, PLA and PHA were mechanically recycled in the ES hub. The preliminary shredding stage was optimized to minimize degradation of materials with preparation for scale-up underway. Biological recycling using anaerobic digestion (AD) digested PHA and PLA producing both biogas and volatile fatty acids (VFAs). These were subsequently used to produce PHA.
Chemical recycling of PLA has been initiated in the NL hub by testing the collected materials at Kg scale to prepare for experiments at multi-kg (pilot) scale. Crude depolymerised liquors were analysed and no problematic contaminations or racemization were identified.
In the IT hub, a multi-step methodology was developed to separate contaminants and organic/inorganic fillers from the polymeric fraction. Key issues addressed included resolving bioplastic solubility by avoiding chlorinated solvents and identifying suitable solvent mixes for selective dissolution of polymers/polyester mixes.
In the ES hub the expression of PHA depolymerases in yeast has been achieved with 100X greater expression (production) of the PHA depolymerising enzyme in yeast compared to the traditional bacterial host. The enzyme was able to depolymerise PHBHx supplied from the market (Kaneka).
In the ES hub volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced through anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste streams of PHA and PLA have been used to fuel bacterial fermentation for the production of virgin PHA. A continuous process at TRL 4 has been validated.
WP 4 is in preparatory mode awaiting recycled biodegradable bioplastics and is working with virgin materials to create standards for comparison with recycled materials.
In WP5 TCD has gathered literature and case studies to develop a SSbD framework for bioplastics and collaborations with EC-JRC. For the economic impact assessment, MAGFI conducted a market analysis of bioplastic production and recycling in Europe, assessing technological and economic trends for bioplastics like PLA, PHA, and Mater-Bi®. A tailored Excel-based techno-economic assessment (TEA) tool has been developed and validated on the data collection of ReBioCycle processes from the economic point of view. For the environmental aspects, ARCHA, Magfi and TCD have developed the Life Cycle questionnaire for the data gathering of the collection and sorting processes to be sent to the ReBioCycle Hubs Leaders.
In WP2, the Hub leaders coordinated the successful sourcing and logistics management of the bioplastics packaging (PLA, PHA, Composites) from market suppliers and partners. Waste collection activities in the 3 Hubs is in progress. Near-infrared (NIR)detection has been successfully implemented for bioplastic separation in mixed waste streams.
In WP3, PLA and PHA were mechanically recycled in the ES hub. The preliminary shredding stage was optimized to minimize degradation of materials with preparation for scale-up underway. Biological recycling using anaerobic digestion (AD) digested PHA and PLA producing both biogas and volatile fatty acids (VFAs). These were subsequently used to produce PHA.
Chemical recycling of PLA has been initiated in the NL hub by testing the collected materials at Kg scale to prepare for experiments at multi-kg (pilot) scale. Crude depolymerised liquors were analysed and no problematic contaminations or racemization were identified.
In the IT hub, a multi-step methodology was developed to separate contaminants and organic/inorganic fillers from the polymeric fraction. Key issues addressed included resolving bioplastic solubility by avoiding chlorinated solvents and identifying suitable solvent mixes for selective dissolution of polymers/polyester mixes.
In the ES hub the expression of PHA depolymerases in yeast has been achieved with 100X greater expression (production) of the PHA depolymerising enzyme in yeast compared to the traditional bacterial host. The enzyme was able to depolymerise PHBHx supplied from the market (Kaneka).
In the ES hub volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced through anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste streams of PHA and PLA have been used to fuel bacterial fermentation for the production of virgin PHA. A continuous process at TRL 4 has been validated.
WP 4 is in preparatory mode awaiting recycled biodegradable bioplastics and is working with virgin materials to create standards for comparison with recycled materials.
In WP5 TCD has gathered literature and case studies to develop a SSbD framework for bioplastics and collaborations with EC-JRC. For the economic impact assessment, MAGFI conducted a market analysis of bioplastic production and recycling in Europe, assessing technological and economic trends for bioplastics like PLA, PHA, and Mater-Bi®. A tailored Excel-based techno-economic assessment (TEA) tool has been developed and validated on the data collection of ReBioCycle processes from the economic point of view. For the environmental aspects, ARCHA, Magfi and TCD have developed the Life Cycle questionnaire for the data gathering of the collection and sorting processes to be sent to the ReBioCycle Hubs Leaders.
WP2:
NL and ES hub sorting trials with commercially available NIR equipment successfully demonstrated that PLA and PHA can be separated from mixed plastic waste with similar purities (96%) and yields (55% to 85%) as conventional plastics. In the IT hub full scale trials for the sorting of bioplastics using NIR technology (TOMRA) was demonstrated comparing fully automatized selection vs. manual intervention.
WP3:
A batch of rPLA has been made by means of mechanical recycling where the quality was identical to the original PLA.
The selective and efficient separation and dissolution of biopolymers from complex mixtures of bioplastic (including mineral fillers) under mild conditions goes beyond the current state of the art.
PHA depolymerase from a Pseudomonas putida (bacterium) was expressed in yeast and achieved a 100 fold higher expression of the enzyme compared to bacterial expression.
AD of pretreated bioplastics (PLA and PHA) resulted in biogas and VFA production. The latter was used in a continuous fermentation process to produce rPHA.
WP5: A specific tool and questionnaire for data collection related to environmental, economic and safety information have been developed specifically for sorting and recycling processes.
NL and ES hub sorting trials with commercially available NIR equipment successfully demonstrated that PLA and PHA can be separated from mixed plastic waste with similar purities (96%) and yields (55% to 85%) as conventional plastics. In the IT hub full scale trials for the sorting of bioplastics using NIR technology (TOMRA) was demonstrated comparing fully automatized selection vs. manual intervention.
WP3:
A batch of rPLA has been made by means of mechanical recycling where the quality was identical to the original PLA.
The selective and efficient separation and dissolution of biopolymers from complex mixtures of bioplastic (including mineral fillers) under mild conditions goes beyond the current state of the art.
PHA depolymerase from a Pseudomonas putida (bacterium) was expressed in yeast and achieved a 100 fold higher expression of the enzyme compared to bacterial expression.
AD of pretreated bioplastics (PLA and PHA) resulted in biogas and VFA production. The latter was used in a continuous fermentation process to produce rPHA.
WP5: A specific tool and questionnaire for data collection related to environmental, economic and safety information have been developed specifically for sorting and recycling processes.