A project on biopolymers for packagind and membranes separation
Nature-mimicking materials for bio-based and biodegradable packaging (EPSRC-IAA project in collaboration with IFF-Dupont Nutrition and Biosciences)
End of life is fast becoming the critical issue in the packaging industry. The polysaccharide materials studied are biopolymers of carbohydrates, similar to natural starch and cellulose, obtained from sugars through enzymatic reactions that mimic nature.
Current biomaterials are often not competitive with plastic-based ones due to lack of functionality, performance and design versatility. Some of them are also expensive to produce.
Enzymatic polymerization can overcome this problem. The materials supplied by IFF obey the modern industrial standards of full control over microscopic and macroscopic properties such as molecular weight, polydispersity index, particle size, etc... Furthermore, they meet all biodegradability standards in terms of industrial and domestic composting, soil and marine degradation.
The materials can therefore replace plastic-based materials and outperform biopolymers currently used in packaging due to their chemistry and tunability.
Related publications
- Papchenko K., Ricci E., De Angelis M.G. "Modelling across Multiple Scales to Design Biopolymer Membranes for Sustainable Gas Separations: 1—Atomistic Approach", Polymers 2023, 15(7), 1805; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15071805 (Open Access)
- Papchenko, K., Degli Esposti, M., Minelli, M., Fabbri, P., Morselli, D. & De Angelis, M. G New sustainable routes for gas separation membranes: The properties of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) cast from green solvents, Journal of Membrane Science. 660, 120847, 2022.
