PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Plastic consumption in the European Union is high, and rising, but its convenience comes with substantial environmental costs. Most plastics are made from fossil fuels, which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, while plastic waste creates a great deal of long-lasting pollution. For this reason, the EU is taking action on the production, use and waste management of plastics by introducing a series of policies and regulations, including restrictions on certain single-use plastics, measures to restrict the use and release of microplastics, and measures relating to bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics.
The use of lignocellulosic (dry plant matter) feedstocks from EU agroforestry is a promising, sustainable and eco-friendly approach to producing of biodegradable and compostable bio-based materials. Access to economically and environmentally sustainable feedstock from agroforestry residues could positively contribute towards the decarbonisation of the bioplastic industry.
However, the development of downstream processes to obtain intermediate products (lignin – the chief component of wood - and sugars) from lignocellulosic feedstock for its market introduction is still challenging. Obtaining purified fermentable sugars requires specific pretreatment to first separate the sugars from the lignin and then to obtain a grade of fermentable sugars that is suitable for industrial fermentation processes. Challenges also remain in terms of the appropriate methods to produce specific grades of lignin with improved compatibility in their processing with thermoplastic biomaterials.
The project is based on previous research carried out by several project partners which has already produced promising innovative biomaterials (monomers, biopolymers and biomaterials), made from sugars and lignin obtained from hardwood leftovers, achieving Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7).
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the LIFE WOOD4PLASTIC project is to demonstrate the use of sugars and lignin from leftover hardwood to produce cost-effective industrial bio-based and compostable plastic products. To do this, the project partners will optimise biomaterial formulations to allow processing of the innovative bio-based and compostable plastic products with high replication potential using standard processes used for conventional plastics.
The specific objectives of the project are to:
- optimise the productivity of 1.4 bio-BDO (butanediol) and biopolyesters to increase the cost-effectiveness of the industrial bio-based and compostable plastic products
- develop new biomaterial formulations using sugars and lignin from hardwood leftovers that can be further processed into industrial bio-based and compostable plastics products (i.e. biobased trays for food applications, bags for the collection of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and dehumidifiers)
- produce and validate the bio-based biodegradable and compostable plastic products at an industrial scale (i.e. food trays, compostable bags and household appliances)
- define a sound business approach for the commercial exploitation of the project products, including the certification for food packaging and compostability of the final products
RESULTS
The expected results of the LIFE WOOD4PLASTIC project are:
- valorisation of approximately 14.4 tonnes of hardwood leftovers that would otherwise have been sent to landfill or incinerated, increasing the use of hardwood wastes for the production of high-value applications
- reduction of the carbon footprint by 113.83 tonnes of CO2 equivalent by substituting bio- based raw materials for fossil fuels
- avoidance of 59 tonnes of plastic wastes through the biodegradation and compostability of the new bio-based plastics
- increase in the European production capacity of bioplastics and bio-based industrial products, reducing Europe's dependence on external raw materials (i.e. fossil fuels)
- development of a new cost-effective bio-based value chain
