Development of Smart PHBV films with microencapsulated spirulina as TUnable food contact MATerials

Descrizione del progetto

Confezioni alimentari più intelligenti ed ecologiche

Le confezioni alimentari in plastica contribuiscono all’inquinamento ambientale e allo spreco alimentare. Sebbene il polimero biodegradabile PHBV costituisca una promettente alternativa sostenibile, le sue proprietà meccaniche ne limitano ancora un uso più ampio nell’industria alimentare. Sostenuto dal programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto STUMAT sta affrontando questa sfida con additivi a base biologica derivati dall’acido ferulico per rafforzare il PHBV senza compromettere la biodegradabilità. I ricercatori stanno studiando come trasformare il PHBV in un materiale intelligente incorporando estratti di Spirulina sensibili al pH utilizzando la millifluidica a goccia, tecnica avanzata in grado di garantire stabilità. Combinando chimica verde, scienza dei materiali e tecnologia alimentare, STUMAT apre la strada alla prossima generazione di confezioni intelligenti a base biologica, in linea con la strategia europea «dal produttore al consumatore».

Obiettivo

"The substantial global food waste linked to plastic-based packaging highlights the urgent need for sustainable alternatives. Polyhydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate (PHBV) is a promising eco-friendly option, but its use in the food industry is limited due to inadequate mechanical properties. Attempts to improve PHBV materials with existing additives have encountered issues like biodegradation challenges, poor dispersion, and undesired crystallization. However, novel bio-based ferulic acid derivatives are predicted to solve this problem by tuning PHBV’s properties through enhancing free volume between polymer chains while maintaining physical interactions. Additionally, transforming PHBV into smart materials for food contact applications remains unexplored. Encapsulation of Spirulina platensis extract (C-PS) could be a way forward due to its advantageous natural chemical composition (known for pH-responsive color-changing properties). However, conventional encapsulation methods often result in unstable microbeads. To overcome this, droplet millifluidics can be employed to achieve stable encapsulation of C-PS in alginate microbeads, enabling PHBV to become smart for the first time. The current project aims to create new additives to improve the mechanical properties of PHBV through green chemistry and modeling approaches, to encapsulate C-PS in alginate microbeads using droplet millifluidics during a secondment to produce smart materials through green manufacturing and test them for spoilage detection. Aligned with the EU’s ""farm to fork"" priority, STUMAT will allow me to combine interdisciplinary skills gained from both the host and secondment on the additive synthesis and microencapsulation respectively to integrate a new generation of bio-based additives and microencapsulated C-PS into PHBV to unlock its full potential which will act as a blueprint for future smart material development, positioning me as an independent researcher to establish my research group."