Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Glaukos (Circular solutions for the textile industry)
Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-05-31
There is an urgent need for a holistic approach to mitigate plastic pollution. The EU-funded Glaukos project took up this challenge by valorising industrial side streams and setting up a circular approach to the textile industry. Inspired by the Greek god who protected the fishermen and the sea, Glaukos researched the development of alternative polymers for fishing gear and clothing to prevent and mitigate pollution of the oceans and waterways. Glaukos intended to make the new material biodegradable without compromising its technical performance and endurance.
Τhe Glaukos team turned industrial side streams containing sugars via a fermentation process into polymer building block. The building block was subsequently used to produce new-generation bio-based polymers and were further tested for spinnability. These polymers formed the base of yarn and coating for clothing and fishing net applications with a low carbon and plastic footprint.In the project the end-of-life solutions of the newly developed materials were also considered by biodegradation and biorecycling. Methods to assess the biodegradability of newly developed plastics, particularly in marine environments and at the micro scale, however, are still insufficiently standardised or available, therefore Glaukos was developing an assessment method for that. The project also explored using enzymes and engineered microbes to break down the developed materials into their monomeric forms. These can then be metabolized by bacteria to produce new biopolymers, closing the loop in the material lifecycle.
The project went also beyond traditional life cycle assessments by adopting a holistic environmental sustainability framework. This comprehensive approach considered multiple environmental indicators to avoid sustainability tunnel vision and ensured a balanced evaluation of impacts and trade-offs. A critical aspect of the Glaukos project was its extensive stakeholder engagement and efforts to bridge the gap between research and policy (see details below).
The project went also beyond traditional life cycle assessments by adopting a holistic environmental sustainability framework. This comprehensive approach considered multiple environmental indicators to avoid sustainability tunnel vision and ensured a balanced evaluation of impacts and trade-offs. A critical aspect of the Glaukos project was its extensive stakeholder engagement and efforts to bridge the gap between research and policy (see details below).
The fermentation process was successfully developed and upscaled through microbial strain selection and strain engineering. Engineered Ustilago maydis produced itaconic acid at maximum efficiency, safe and robust process, and the entire production process was demonstrated at industrially relevant environment at 1,500 L scale. Additionally production and DSP of other value-added chemicals based on the Ustilago platform by newly developed strains on lab scale was also demonstrated. At lab scale +25 different polymers were developed and the topmost promising biopolymers were each scaled-up to 10 - 30 kg pilot scale. When compared to current alternatives on the market, they can degrade faster in marine environment, providing a positive end-of-life scenario (e.g. lower microplastic pollution). Eco-friendly finishes and coatings with increased biobased content 30-60% were developed. Methods to predict spinnability by lab tests, spinning process to produce filament yarn and texturing process to produce textured yarn of the new polymers were all developed in the projects. Glaukos established assessments and technologies concerning biodegradation, mechanical degradation and ecotoxicity, covering the different types of impacts of plastics for marine life to ensure a healthy marine environment. They can be used in the future to assess new polymers produced by our partners, or in the context of new materials development. Glaukos researchers identified novel nylonases for enzymatic polyamide and poly(ester-amide) hydrolysis and developed combined chemical/enzymatic hydrolysis for polyamides and poly(ester-amides) as well. Microbial upcycling of polyamides to biodegradable and eco-friendly polyhydroxybutyrate was enabled. Sustainability is multi-dimensional and requires looking at the systems in their full complexity. Therefore three complementary sustainability assessments (LCA, plastic leakage and material circularity) were carried out and integrated into a holistic sustainability assessment. This holistic sustainability assessment allows: 1) fair comparison with conventional products, 2) to identify trade-offs and 3) to identify areas for improvement. in total, 10 workshops were organised, with over 400 stakeholders actively involved, served as catalysts for dialogue, enabling participants to exchange insights, share concerns, and collectively explore solutions to environmental challenges. The Glaukos project implemented a "Projects2Policy" format, in collaboration with Bio-Plastics Europe project, aiming to translate research findings into actionable policy recommendations. Glaukos adopted a multidimensional model that emphasized holistic solutions and considered the entire life cycle of materials to unlock the potential of bio-based and biodegradable plastics. The innovations achieved by the Glaukos project for the sustainable clothing and fishing industries can be discovered on Glaukos’ website (https://glaukos-project.eu/) by clicking on the icons along the value chain shown on the front page.