BioICEP is designed to pave a route to a circular economy for plastics. The challenge being addressed is to provide a seamless route to resolving pervasive plastic pollution and climate impact.
BioICEP operates in tandem with nature using novel combinations of mechano-green chemistry and microbial and enzymatic technologies to depolymerize and revalorization plastic waste. In essence, BioICEP will take in plastic waste at one end, then using BioICEP technologies, will treat it, mechanically, green chemically and enzymatically to recover the molecules and building blocks, and use this as the starting point for new fully sustainable bioplastics and bioproducts.
BioICEP embodies the convergence of mechanisms spanning the disciplines of mechanical engineering, green chemical science, biocatalysis and bioprocessing to complete the life-cycle for plastics.
Why BioICEP is important to Society:
The scale of the problem is immense. Plastic, which is primarily processed from fossil fuel resources, is a ubiquitous and indispensable material in the world economy and in our daily lives, providing both high performance energy saving benefits along with alarming pollution and waste stockpiles.
Delivering ‘plastic circularity’ is essential for the future prosperity of society and the planet. By the end of the BioICEP project, in four years, researchers envisage that the outputs of the project will herald in a new generation of green technologies transforming how we live with plastics. The project focuses on a specific aspect of the plastics life cycle that when combined will close the loop from our linear processes into one of circularity. BioICEP proposes to turn petroleum derived plastic waste into individual building blocks for new replacement eco-plastics that are not harmful to the environment. BioICEP technology provides a route to upcycling multi-layered plastics and using their constituent molecules to create products that are perpetually regeneratable delivering full plastics circularity.
The BioICEP project is a compelling ecological-based proposition to address the global environmental plastics challenge, simultaneously creating new opportunities for industry to transition from a linear model of petroleum-based plastics production to a production model based on circularity. BioICEP researchers are committed that the outputs from this project could open up potential new markets for eco-based technologies and product development as a cornerstone of a circular economy that works for business, society and the environment.
The BioICEP overall objectives:
The project’s overall objective is to demonstrate a seamless sustainable route to a circular economy for plastics by developing an advanced energy, carbon, and cost-efficient waste plastic biotransformation into high market demand bioproducts and bioplastics. The consortium brings together leading experts from industry and academia contributing a set of purpose-designed and ground-breaking technologies in order to achieve the following specific objectives:
STRATEGIC GOAL 1: Development of accelerated high-efficiency biodegradation incorporating microorganism communities expressing at least three novel and improved enzymatic activities enabling the degradation of mixtures of plastics.
STRATEGIC GOAL 2: Sustainable degradation of at least 20% of mixed plastics.
STRATEGIC GOAL 3: Bioprocessed high value bioproducts including equivalent bioplastics valorising mixed plastic waste.
STRATEGIC GOAL 4: Sustainable prototype system plan, paving the way to bring the developed solution to the market, fulfilling current needs, future expectations, and delivering a seamless bio-innovative route for a circular economy for plastics.
BioICEP endeavors to produce plastic products that are perpetually regeneratable has the potential to deliver full plastics circularity and transform how we live with plastics. The BioICEP ethos embodies a circular economy which is sustainable, regenerative and fruitful for all of the planet and its inhabitants.
