BioICEP – Bio Innovation of a Circular Economy for Plastics

Bacteria and enzymes turn plastic waste into new raw materials for organic products

Global production and consumption of plastic has grown exponentially in recent decades. Since the 1950s, approximately 8.3 billion tonnes of the material have been produced – 60% of which has ended up in landfill or the natural environment. The aim of the BioIECP project is to develop a highly efficient biodegradation process for plastic materials and thus reduce plastic waste by around 20 %. 

The BioICEP solution: Bio Innovation of a Circular Economy for Plastics 

Microorganism communities from bacteria and enzymes produce building blocks for new polymers or other bioproducts from mixed plastic waste to enable a new circular economy based on plastic waste. Three innovative booster technologies form the core of this solution, which is designed to increase the degradation of plastics: 

1) mechanical-biochemical disintegration processes; 

2) biocatalytic digestion with enzymes and

3) microbial consortia,

which together leads to a highly efficient dismantling of mixed plastic waste streams. The monomers obtained are fermented and converted into bioproducts such as nanocellulose. BioICEP technology can lead to significant financial savings in the overall cost of eliminating plastic-related pollution.

The task of the working group led by Prof. Maus-Friedrichs and Dr. Sourkouni-Argirusi at Clausthal University of Technology is to activate the plastic surfaces for microorganisms by means of sonochemical and photocatalytic processes and to characterise their surface properties. The activated samples are treated biotechnologically by the project partners and the impact of pretreatment on degradability is investigated. 

The Consortium

The Bio-Innovation Consortium for a Circular Economy for Plastics (BioICEP) led by the Athlone Institute of Technology AIT, Ireland is a group of 12 European research institutions and SMEs that, in cooperation with three Chinese institutes, are driving biotechnological solutions to reduce the global environmental impact of plastic waste. The consortium combines the necessary competencies along the value chain and has a large network of approximately 200 international companies for the implementation of the developed solutions. 

Beneficiaries: Athlone Institute of Technology, Ireland (Coordinator), Acteco Productos Y Servicios S.L, Spain, AimplasTechnological Institute  of Plastics, Spain, Avecom N.V., Belgium, Clausthal University of Technology, Germany, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Serbia, Institute for Experimental Biology and Technology, Portugal, Limerick Institute of Technology, Ireland, Logoplaste Innovation Lab, Portugal, Microlife Solutions B.V., Netherlands, National Technical University of Athens, Greece, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Beijing Institute of Technology, China, Shandong University,China, Institute of Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Project data 

The European Commission is supporting the project under the Horizon 2020 programme, grant agreement # 870292, duration 1.1.2020 till 31.12.2023. The budget for the European partners is approx. 5 Mio. €, the Chinese partners are funded by the National Chinese Science Foundation.

Author:

Dr.-Ing.  Georgia Sourkouni

Date:
March 2022

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