Descrizione del progetto
Migliorare l’universalità degli elementi costitutivi della plastica per sostenere il riciclaggio in un’economia circolare
L’utilizzo e il riciclaggio della plastica si confrontano ancora a molte sfide, mentre i rifiuti plastici continuano ad essere un problema importante. All’interno di un’economia davvero circolare, le materie prime vengono utilizzate per fabbricare prodotti che sono decomposti in materie prime per essere di nuovo riutilizzati: non ci sono rifiuti. La natura ci fornisce esempi approfonditi. Le proteine sono polimeri naturali con una sequenza definita costruiti attraverso monomeri di amminoacidi. La natura le ricicla decomponendole in quegli amminoacidi che sono poi utilizzati per costruire altre proteine, spesso molto diverse da quelle riciclate. Il progetto NaCRe, finanziato dall’UE, intende stabilire il concetto di riciclaggio dei polimeri biologici e sintetici con sequenza definita in modo che aderiscano ai principi dell’economia circolare.
Obiettivo
In 2070, 10^12 Kg of plastics (polymers) could be produced yearly in a world inhabited by 11 billion people. Hence, we have ~50 years to address this sustainability challenge. The sourcing and disposing of such quantities without a significant environmental impact will not be possible, even if everything is bio-sourced and bio-degraded. Yet, on earth, there are >10^12 Kg of proteins (one of Nature’s polymers). They are sustainable because they are recycled in a circular way. If we exemplify their metabolism, proteins are decomposed by living organisms into their monomeric constituents (the amino acids, AAs); the cell machinery uses such AAs to synthesize new proteins that have little in common with the original ones. This is only possible because a protein is a specific sequence of AAs bound together by cleavable peptide bonds, i.e. proteins are sequence-defined polymers, SDPs. Nature reuses and does not degrade AAs, thus assuring protein sustainability. This project aims at showing that such a circular approach to recycle SDPs is possible for technologically-relevant polymers using engineering-sound laboratory processes. One aim is to show that b-Lactoglobulin, a milk protein used as a component for water filtration membranes, can be digested into its AAs, that, in turn, can be used to form Fibroin, a silk protein used in resistive switching memory devices. Fibroin will be converted into Keratin, a wool protein, that will be converted back into b-Lactoglobulin. Another aim is to perform the whole process within an automated and scalable robotic platform. The final aim is to expand this concept from natural proteins to DNA and non-natural SDPs. There would be a paradigm shift in plastic recycling, if a random mixture of any polymers could be used to produce any other polymer on earth, without taxing the planet with degradation products. Scope of this project is to show that such a vision in the circular use of polymers is scientifically and technologically possible.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanets
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryamines
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantIstituzione ospitante
1015 Lausanne
Svizzera