Descrizione del progetto
Ridurre l’inquinamento da plastica alla maniera dei vermi?
La corsa per la plastica non si arresta, un grande rischio per l’ambiente e la salute. Se gli attuali modelli di consumo e le pratiche di gestione dei rifiuti continueranno, entro il 2050 ci saranno circa 12 miliardi di tonnellate di rifiuti plastici nelle discariche e nell’ambiente. La produzione e la decomposizione della plastica devono essere sostenibili. Gli sforzi per identificare microrganismi in grado di distruggere la plastica si sono intensificati, ma i loro tassi di biodegradazione sono molto bassi. Il progetto SOLFORPLAS, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà una strategia per implementare la biodegradazione della plastica come soluzione all’inquinamento da essa causato. A tal fine, integrerà trattamenti fisici, chimici e biologici che imitano il processo di biodegradazione svolto dai vermi.
Obiettivo
Since the 1970s, the mismanagement of plastic waste has been increasingly threatening our health and environment. Rather than been reduced, plastic production is growing exponentially. By 2050, the estimation of plastic waste in landfills or in the natural environment verges on 12 billion metric tons, if current production and waste management trends continue. Societies are raising awareness about this concern, although our dependency makes nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. This urges for a solution making plastic production and degradation sustainable. To date, important efforts have been made to isolate and identify unique microorganisms capable of utilizing plastics as a carbon source. Although there is empirical evidence of it, the rates of biodegradation are still very low. In SOLFORPLAS project, we will apply cutting-edge biology tools, including fermentation and analytical processes, together with state-of-the-art methods in industrial microbiology research, to investigate plastic biodegradation using a highly-optimized strategy that combines an extruder and a bioreactor. The innovative combined strategy will integrate physical, chemical and biological treatment, which will mimic the whole biodegradation process taking place in worms. Multiple polymer characteristics will be monitored to determine/quantify its biodegradation. Overall, SOLFORPLAS project aim at stablishing a combined strategy to carry out plastic biodegradation as a solution for plastic pollution, one of the biggest environmental that humans are facing in this century.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental biotechnologybioremediationbioreactors
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiology
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybioprocessing technologiesfermentation
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinatore
31077 TOULOUSE CEDEX 4
Francia