Project description
Circular opportunities for the medical sector
Derived from renewable feedstocks, such as starch, cellulose, vegetable oils and vegetable fats, bioplastics are plastics that can also be biodegradable. Bioplastics play a key role in the transition to a circular economy by replacing fossil with renewable resources and increasing recycling targets as well as resource and waste management efficiency. Responding to this need, the EU-funded GREEN-MAP project will enable a circular economy in hospitals – within the disposable medical device industry. It will develop novel bio-based, biodegradable polymers that can be used in medical device packaging as well as for disposable medical devices/components. Specifically, the project will form an intersectional and international research network, bringing together experts from inside and outside academia to ensure a high level and effective sharing of new knowledge.
Objective
The ultimate research goal of the GREEN-MAP project is to enable a circular economy within the disposable medical device industry. We will develop novel bio-based, biodegradable polymers that can be used in medical device packaging, as well as for disposable medical devices/components. By combining renewable, bio-based monomers with biodegradability via industrial composting and/or anaerobic digestion and bioconversion, we will enable a sustainable path for the disposable medical device market—expected to double by 2023—ultimately leading to a circular economy.
Key innovative elements include:
1) use of bio-based monomers (vegetable oil), representing value added to existing biodiesel refining,
2) green chemistry approach, using enzymes and alternative, low-impact catalysts,
3) polymer systems (copolymers and/or blends) with highly tunable properties (mechanical, optical, barrier, hemocompatibility).
Accomplishing this ambitious goal will only be possible by forming a new collaborative intersectional and international research network. Participation within the project will directly lead to diversification of skills, both research-related and transferable ones, leading to improved employability and career prospects both in and outside academia.
Thus, the consortium includes academic and non-academic partners involved in each aspect of the bio-based polymer value chain: substrates/monomers, synthesis, characterization, processing, product development, and life cycle sustainability assessment. While the focus is on material development for existing disposable medical devices and their packaging, the innovative and synergistic environment fostered by consortium, and especially the secondments can lead to the development of new devices, new procedures, etc., representing potential added value of the collaboration network. International and intersectoral mobility guarantees high level and effective sharing of new knowledge.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbiofuels
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymes
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Coordinator
70 310 Szczecin
Poland