Polymers-5B
Synthesis of Bio-based and Biodegradable polymers from monomers from renewable Biowastes via Biocatalysis and Green Chemistry to contribute to European Circular Bioeconomy
Project details
- Type of project
- Research & Innovation Action
- Project focus
- Bio-based polymers & plastics
- Feedstock origin
- Agri-food wasteForestry waste
- Feedstock type
- Food industry sidestreamsLignin & wood residues
- Project period
- 1 June 2024 - 31 May 2028
- Status
- In progress
- CBE JU Contribution
- € 5 264 779
- Call identifier
- HORIZON-JU-CBE-2023
Summary
Today’s society increasingly relies on plastic materials leading to an important impact on climate change and planetary health. Over 97% of plastics are derived from fossil fuels, and their life cycle is far from circular, with incineration and landfill being the most common end-of-life management strategies.
To address this problem, the Polymers-5B project aims to create innovative bio-based high-performance plastic polymers from agri-food industry side streams, such as tomato and olive waste, and wood biowaste (pulp and lignin). The project’s team will use biocatalytic and green chemistry processes to develop these novel polymers, and will blend them to create valuable bio-composites and polymeric materials for use in the textile, automotive, furniture, and polymeric resin industries.
To make an alternative to fossil-based plastics, Polymers-5B aims to:
- Select bio-renewable monomers extracted from tomato, olive oil, and wood pulp biowaste and develop optimised and sustainable extraction processes, using AI-driven simulations and safe-and-sustainable-by design methodologies.
- Simulate polymer properties and design to produce the most promising polymers at a pilot scale through optimised polymerisation processes.
- Test and validate the replacement of fossil-based polymers with the selected bio-based polymeric prototypes in key products and materials for the textile, automotive, furniture, and polymeric resin sectors.
- Make the environmental assessment of the integrated Polymers-5B processes, to achieve a 50% reduction in energy consumption and GHG emissions when compared to their fossil-based alternatives.
- Share the project results with wide audiences to drive the demand for sustainable bio-based and biodegradable polymers and derived plastic materials.
Polymers-5B’s expected impacts include:
- Boosting the alternative bio-based polymer and plastic materials production in the EU by unlocking new application areas and making available a broader range of market-ready products based on bio-based plastic.
- Advancing multi-disciplinary research and integration of AI in the bio-based plastics sector.
- Supporting the EU’s environmental targets, in particular those of the European Green Deal, by fostering resource efficiency and circularity, and halving energy consumption and GHG emissions in bio-based polymers synthesis processes.
Consortium map
Project coordination
- IST-ID ASSOCIACAO DO INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TECNICO PARA A INVESTIGACAO E O DESENVOLVIMENTO Lisboa, Portugal
Consortium
- TEHNOLOSKI FAKULTET NOVI SAD Novi Sad, Serbia
- ISQ&CTAG AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, LDA MONCAO, Portugal
- CENTIMFE CENTRO TECNOLOGICO DA INDUSTRIA DE MOLDES E FERRAMENTAS ESPECIAIS Marinha Grande, Portugal
- IDENER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AGRUPACION DE INTERES ECONOMICO LA RINCONADA SEVILLA, Spain
- IBER-OLEFF - COMPONENTES TECNICOS EM PLASTICO SA Pombal, Portugal
- CHIRALVISION BV Den Hoorn, Netherlands
- FUNDACIO EURECAT Cerdanyola Del Valles (Barcelona), Spain
- BONLEX EUROPE SRL MOTTA DI LIVENZA, Italy
- MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV Munchen, Germany
- NSBPROJECT SRL Mantova, Italy
- LATVIJAS VALSTS KOKSNES KIMIJAS INSTITUTS Riga, Latvia
