Bioplastic Generation Using Urban BiowasteIn a circular economy, city waste being turned into resour
Bioplastic Generation Using Urban BiowasteIn a circular economy, city waste being turned into resources is of great importance, especially considering more than 70% of the inhabitants in Europe live in urban areas and produce a great amount of biowaste coming from the treatment of their waste waters. The European project RES URBIS (Resources from Urban Bio-waste), showed that different biowaste produced in an urban environment can be treated within the same chain of valorization and can obtain products with biological origins, such as bioplastic, with a higher economic value to the classic compost and biogas. The project confirmed the technical and economic viability of this process.The experimental part of the project was carried out in two pilot plants, located in Lisbon (Portugal) and Treviso (Italy), and in five laboratories –one of them in the Faculty of Chemistry of the UB. It produced a total of 30 kg of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), the basic polymer to create bioplastic with volatile fatty acids from waste decomposition. This PHA was obtained through three new extraction methods carried out within the project, and later, processed by the industrial entities of the consortium to obtain commercial-use bioplastic.“The results of the project were very positive. We obtained film samples of bioplastic to use them as an interlayer with adjacent film, with a great commercial potential. These bioplastics can be used as long-lasting goods and biocomposites with fibers produced with waste from parks and gardens,” says Joan Mata, professor from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry, who leads the participation of the University of Barcelona in the project. “Also –he adds-, the conducted analysis show that the legislation states.”Read more. -- source link
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