The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), an agency attached to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, is participating in ECOSYSTEM, a new European project to develop biodegradable plastic from strawberry waste. It will also develop an antioxidant and antibacterial pad that prevents the production of ethylene, a gas that rots strawberries. With the contribution of the CSIC through the Institute of Materials Science (ICMM) and the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemicals (ICP), the initiative has a total funding of 4 million euros through Pathfinder Challenges grants, which finance research with high impact potential.
"Our goal is to make packaging from fruit waste, such as that from strawberries," said Eva Maya, a researcher at the ICMM-CSIC and coordinator of the project at the CSIC. "The working teams will set up a closed ecosystem in which everything is used: raw materials are extracted from strawberry waste, which are then converted into molecules for new types of plastic," she said.
The new bioplastic will be used for fruit packaging, but also for the pads in trays, and mulch film in cultivation. It will also be used in pharmaceutical packaging to replace aluminum.
The project will also focus on strategies to take advantage of the bio-packs after they have been used. "We'll research how the packaging can be recycled, reused, and biodegraded," Maya said. The researchers will use three sustainable technologies at all times: biorefinery, mechanochemistry, and white biotechnology.
The ICP will be in charge of the biorefinery, extracting cellulose, lignin, and furfural from the strawberry waste. "We are closing the circle of the circular economy, extracting these three elements from all the biomass waste from strawberry cultivation," stated MartÃn Alonso, a CSIC researcher at the ICP.
Part of those raw materials will be sent to the ICMM, where the new molecules will be developed via mechanochemistry. "It's a new technology that does not use heat or solvents, so it uses much less energy. It's also very fast," Maya added. These molecules are the building blocks for the bioplastic needed to make the new packaging.
The ICMM will also work on the creation of a new type of pad for strawberry packaging, as the current ones normally only absorb moisture. The new ones will also be antibacterial and have an antioxidant effect. In addition, they will prevent the production of ethylene, the gas that causes strawberries to spoil quickly.
In addition, ICMM will again work on the step related to "end-of-life solutions" for the material. "We plan to transform previously created packaging waste into catalysts, i.e., substances that are capable of transforming something into something else. Depending on the nature of the catalyst, we will see what reactions we will use it for, "Maya said.
The project, led by the Spanish foundation Funditec, is being carried out by entities from Spain (CSIC, the Technological Institute for Plastic, and Kneia), Italy (University of Ferrara and Agricola2000), Switzerland (TEMAS Solutions), Denmark (the Danish Technological Institute), and Greece (Mountain Berries).
For more information:
CSIC
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