Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NATURE (Innovative designs to enable plastic packaging circular economy)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-12-31
Over the past century, plastics have become the material of choice for packaging because of their low cost, high performance, and easy processability, occupying an ever-expanding range of applications. Far from decreasing, their production is in constant increase, estimations evaluate that by 2050 the production of plastic packaging could be exceeding 250 million metric tons. Considering that most plastics employed in the packaging industry are used for only minutes to days, the lack of management of disposed plastics has led to a tremendous growth of waste. The problem has been highlighted in 2016 by the noticed prediction by the Ellen MacArthur foundation that by 2050, the ocean is expected to contain more plastics than fish (by weight). Although it was envisioned since a couple of decades that biodegradable polymers based on ester linkages such as poly(lactide) (PLA) or poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P3HB) could be part of the solution because of their renewable origins (e.g. starch, cellulose, and bacteria) and biodegradability, the inferior properties of these materials compared to the synthetic plastics currently used in the packaging industry (mainly polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)) have considerably limited their insertion in the plastic market. NATURE-EID is an innovative research training program at the forefront of the circular economy of biobased polyesters for packaging applications. The project offers to develop new synthetic routes for novel biobased polymers where a material is not only designed based on its performance and low cost but also considering the overall sustainability of the product, sourcing, green chemistry synthesis, scalability, degradation, and recyclability. To achieve this goal, 4 ESRs are being trained on organic chemistry, synthesis and analysis of polymers, recycling processes, and life cycle assessment.
NATURE-EID has proudly achieved important objectives and the main achievements of the consortium over the first two years are described as follows.
Considering the management of the project and the different workshops and dissemination activities included in the formation:
- Four talented ESRs have been recruited and they have been enrolled in their respective doctoral programs at the university of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) (Spain) and the University of Birmingham (UK).
- A first workshop was organised in May 2022 (M17) in which the four ESRs participated in both the excellent GEP-SLAP 2022 congress on polymer science in San Sebastian (Spain) and a joint school with the NIPU project on soft skills (i.e. ethics in science, oral presentation, dissemination of results, entrepreneurship).
- A second (2-day) workshop was organised in November 2022 (M23) at the University of Birmingham (UK), where the ESRs followed an introduction to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). They learned about the principles of LCA and circular economy in general, the critical analysis of such study, and an introduction to its realisation on appropriate softwares.
- Virtual meetings with all ESRs and ERs are also regularly organised, every two months, to ensure a tight follow-up of the project.
- Two ESRs have obtained certificates in Spanish (B1).
- ESRs have been encouraged to participate in different outreach activities, and some have participated in different events including science open days, days of the women in science, the realisation of a project video targeted at students focused on the importance of recycling.
Regarding the scientific tasks involved in the project:
- New synthetical routes have been found for the synthesis of low molecular weight polyesters for distinct applications.
- Unsaturated low molecular weight polyesters have been successfully synthesized for their subsequent use in additive manufacturing.
- Macrocycles have been synthesised through innovative synthetic routes for their subsequent use as monomers for ring-opening polymerisation.
- Organocatalysts and novel bio-sourced catalysts have been successfully employed for polycondensation and ring-opening polymerisation reactions.
Considering the management of the project and the different workshops and dissemination activities included in the formation:
- Four talented ESRs have been recruited and they have been enrolled in their respective doctoral programs at the university of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) (Spain) and the University of Birmingham (UK).
- A first workshop was organised in May 2022 (M17) in which the four ESRs participated in both the excellent GEP-SLAP 2022 congress on polymer science in San Sebastian (Spain) and a joint school with the NIPU project on soft skills (i.e. ethics in science, oral presentation, dissemination of results, entrepreneurship).
- A second (2-day) workshop was organised in November 2022 (M23) at the University of Birmingham (UK), where the ESRs followed an introduction to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). They learned about the principles of LCA and circular economy in general, the critical analysis of such study, and an introduction to its realisation on appropriate softwares.
- Virtual meetings with all ESRs and ERs are also regularly organised, every two months, to ensure a tight follow-up of the project.
- Two ESRs have obtained certificates in Spanish (B1).
- ESRs have been encouraged to participate in different outreach activities, and some have participated in different events including science open days, days of the women in science, the realisation of a project video targeted at students focused on the importance of recycling.
Regarding the scientific tasks involved in the project:
- New synthetical routes have been found for the synthesis of low molecular weight polyesters for distinct applications.
- Unsaturated low molecular weight polyesters have been successfully synthesized for their subsequent use in additive manufacturing.
- Macrocycles have been synthesised through innovative synthetic routes for their subsequent use as monomers for ring-opening polymerisation.
- Organocatalysts and novel bio-sourced catalysts have been successfully employed for polycondensation and ring-opening polymerisation reactions.
NATURE-EID offers a unique balance between the excellency of academic institutions (the University of Birmingham and the University of the Basque Country) and the industrial expertise of an SME (POLYKEY). This training is a chance for researchers in the first stage of their scientific careers to develop strong knowledge and a solid experience in the crucial field of circular economy, eco-design, and biopolymers. Apart from the undeniable scientific acquisitions, this project is a special opportunity to train young scientists about important topics too often undervalued such as sustainability, renewability, or recyclability, to participate in the formation of a new generation of scientists, conscious of the importance of preserving the environment and the challenges that this is supposing for our societies. The ultimate goal of such an initiative is to improve the career prospects of the ESRs as researchers through a Ph.D. experience half in academia and half in a company.