Biopolymers from renewable raw materials

Project background

The motivation behind the project is to respond to the growing social need for a more sustainable use of resources, as enshrined in the zero-waste policy. The availability of crude oil, a key resource for the production of conventional plastics, is constantly decreasing. At the same time, the production and disposal of these plastics lead to considerable environmental pollution, which is increasing interest in renewable biopolymers and bioplastics.

Research is increasingly focusing on the development of renewable and CO2-neutral raw materials in order to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly materials. Against this backdrop, food waste and by-products, in particular corn gluten meal and wheat gluten, are promising alternatives. These by-products of the food industry have so far been used primarily as animal feed, but their suitability for this purpose is limited due to their lack of essential amino acids. Another promising resource is algae. Compared to traditional biomasses, these have the advantage of being cultivated in controlled environments with defined conditions, which enables a more homogeneous chemical composition. The use of these biomasses does not compete with food production and helps to mitigate climate change by absorbing CO2.

Project objective

The main objective of the project is to use food waste and algae as sustainable and efficient alternatives for polymer polymer production. Through precise extraction and purification processes, the foundations are being laid for the production of bioplastics are being developed. As part of the research project, the parameters influencing the of the extraction processes on the composition of the polymers and their thermal and mechanical properties. In addition potential processing technologies for these novel materials will be identified and will be identified and evaluated.

Project procedure

To achieve the Project objectives, a systematic screening of different biomasses as well as algae types and species will be carried out, which will be analyzed in detail for their protein content and composition. Quantitative measurement methods will be developed to determine the amino acid, lipid and polysaccharide composition and molecular weight distribution. Various extraction processes are then evaluated with regard to their suitability for the production of biopolymers from the biomass.

The optimal process parameters and their optimization potential are identified and the extracts obtained are comprehensively characterized. The influence of the extraction processes on the composition and thermal and mechanical properties of the polymers will be quantified.

Systematic problem-solving and development approaches will be used to carry out the research project in a time- and cost-efficient manner. The use of modern design-of-experiments (DoE) methods makes it possible to significantly reduce the number of experiments required while ensuring consistently high quality in the analysis of the relationships between different parameters and their effects.

Innovation

Hitherto, the production of biopolymers has primarily focused on the use of conventional biomass biomass such as corn or sugar cane. The utilization of algae and food algae and food residues through protein extraction is a largely largely unexplored area. The project aims to close this gap, by adapting existing methods from the processing of other biomasses and products.

The aim is to develop a climate-friendly alternative to conventional plastics which can be used in particular in the area of packaging or disposable products. This would make a significant contribution to reducing the impact of climate change by developing more resource-efficient and environmentally friendly material options.