Descripción del proyecto
Bioplásticos innovadores con funcionalidades mejoradas
El polihidroxibutirato (PHB) y el ácido poliláctico (PLA) son dos bioplásticos con un rendimiento sostenible mejorado. El objetivo del proyecto NEWPACK, financiado con fondos europeos, es validar la producción de al menos dos nuevos bioplásticos en entornos industriales. Estos bioplásticos se derivarán de mezclas de PHB y PLA, enriquecidas con extractos naturales con propiedades antioxidantes y antibacterianas, así como nanoaditivos procedentes de la celulosa y la quitina. El equipo de NEWPACK utilizará residuos agroalimentarios para producir PHB y desarrollará y validará el proceso hasta la escala piloto. Además, validará a escala piloto la mezcla de PLA y PHB para cumplir los requisitos específicos de los productos finales.
Objetivo
The objective of NEWPACK is to validate in industrial setting the production of at least two new bio-plastics based on PHB- PLA blends with improved sustainability performance, obtained by the addition of natural extracts with antioxidant/antibacterial properties and nanoadditives from cellulose and chitin. A new circular economy value chain will be generated from agro-food wastes that will be exploited for the production of PHB, while designing and validating the process up to pilot scale. Blending of PLA and PHB will be validated at pilot scale to achieve specific final product requirements based on targeted products. New bioplastic properties and functionalities will be achieved through incorporation of nanocellulose or nanochitin additives (to improve typical problems of processability and mechanical properties of PLA-PHB), antioxidant and antimicrobial additives. The ability to extend the functionalities will be validated in real industrial environments. NEWPACK activities are underpinned by the prior experience and results (already validated at TRL 3-4) of the partners in order to achieve advanced TRLs (5-6) for the developed technologies, including PHB production from agro-food waste; co-blending of PHB with PLA; nanocellulose extraction from wheat straw and incorporation into PHB-PLA blends and encapsulation of natural antioxidants/antimicrobials for addition to PHB-PLA. Great emphasis will be on assessing technical and economic feasibility of the processes; demonstrating the biodegradability of solutions; ensuring the compliance to the market and regulatory requirements; LCA evaluation; preparing for future scale-up of the processes to achieve a pre-industrial production and identification of stakeholders perceptions, attitudes and expectations towards bioplastics. The NEWPACK consortium has 12 partners with academic research organizations and small and large industries which cover the whole innovation, production and final use value chain.
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RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinador
90014 Oulu
Finlandia