Description du projet
Injecter de la valeur dans les flux de déchets plastiques
Les plastiques représentent un matériau indispensable dans notre économie, mais les inconvénients graves pour l’environnement et notre santé sont bien réels. Le plastique affecte négativement l’ensemble des écosystèmes et les microplastiques constituent une préoccupation notable pour notre santé. La hausse du recyclage des déchets plastiques représente une priorité absolue dans la transition de l’Europe vers une économie circulaire. Le projet MIX‑UP, financé par l’UE, répond aux besoins du marché concernant les nouveaux circuits durables pour valoriser les flux de déchets plastiques. En tant que tels, les mélanges plastiques composés de cinq des six plastiques récalcitrants issus des combustibles fossiles (PP, PE, PUR, PET et PS) et les plastiques biodégradables, tels que le plastique PLA et PHA, seront utilisés comme matières premières pour des transformations microbiennes. Cela permettra non seulement d’accroître le quota de recyclage, mais ajoutera également de la valeur aux flux de déchets plastiques insuffisamment recyclés.
Objectif
The continuing demand for plastic products, the lack of appropriate recycling and the ubiquitous pollution of the environment with plastic waste pose a global challenge. An ambitious vision and considerable efforts are required to change the traditional value chain of plastics to a sustainable one, based on biodegradable plastics.
In MIX-UP, plastic mixtures with five of the top six fossil-based recalcitrant plastics (PP, PE, PUR, PET, and PS), along with upcoming biodegradable plastics such as PLA and PHA, will be used as feedstock for microbial transformations, thereby generating a workflow that increases the recycling quota and adds value to poorly recycled plastics waste streams. Successive controlled enzymatic and microbial degradation of mechanically pre-treated plastics waste will be combined with subsequent microbial conversion to value-added chemicals and polymers by mixed cultures. We will optimize known plastics-degrading enzymes for high specific binding capacities, stability, and catalytic efficacy towards a broad spectrum of plastics polymers under high salt and temperature conditions by integrated protein engineering, and also isolate novel enzymes with activities on recalcitrant polymers. MIX-UP will also optimize the production of enzymes and formulate enzyme cocktails tailored to specific waste streams. Implementation of these enzymes, both in vitro and in vivo, enables stable self-sustaining microbiomes to convert the released plastic monomers selectively into at least six value-added products, key building blocks, and biomass. Any remaining material recalcitrant to enzymatic activity will be recirculated into the process after a physico-chemical treatment.
The Chinese-European MIX-UP is a multidisciplinary and industry-driven consortium that addresses the market need for novel sustainable routes to valorise plastics waste streams. MIX-UP realises a circular (bio)-economy and could be a viable alternative for mechanical and chemical recycling.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbioplasticspolylactic acid
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbioplasticspolyhydroxyalkanoates
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymes
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
52062 Aachen
Allemagne