Raise a glass: Aimplas producing bioplastics from beer production waste

Iranpolymer/Baspar   Valencia-based Aimplas, the Spanish Plastics Technology Centre, is coordinating a project for the development of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)-based packaging solutions derived from beer production waste. Called BioSupPack, the research programme also focusses on demonstrating a feasible depolymerisation recycling process for the new solution.

The research group brings together 17 partners from eight countries and has received €8.8 million in funding from the European Union’s Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) and the Horizon 2020 programmes.

PHAs are biosynthesised by a bacterium fed by a renewable carbon source. They are fully biodegradable in soil or water, but one of the issues that has long hindered attempts to scale up PHA production is the cost of the carbon source metabolised by the microorganisms, which has made traditional methods for PHAs production extremely expensive. Many PHA manufacturers rely on high-cost substrates such as pure sugars, fats, and animal or vegetable protein. As a result, the cost of the carbon source can contribute to up to 60% of the overall cost of PHA production.

Aimplas hopes to develop a cost-effective solution by using brewers spent grain (BSG) as a carbon source. BSG makes up 85% of brewing waste and costs around € 0.85 per kilogram. Aimplas will also source monomers obtained from enzymatic recycling of PHA packaging waste. From these PHA compounds, several prototypes of rigid packaging will be designed at pilot scale with customised barrier properties, taking into account the most viable options for waste collection and separation.

Packaging solutions will include injection moulded PHA and biocomposites, as well as packaging made from PHA-coated fibres and ready-to-eat trays.

Aimplas and its partners will also develop an enzymatic recycling process to recover PHA from these new packaging solutions, with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of recycling post-industrial waste during the bioplastics production process. Prototypes will be evaluated in terms of environmental and socio-economic sustainability and safety

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