Summary
Since the 1970s, the mismanagement of plastic waste has been increasingly threatening our health and environment. Rather than been reduced, plastic production is growing exponentially. By 2050, the estimation of plastic waste in landfills or in the natural environment verges on 12 billion metric tons, if current production and waste management trends continue. Societies are raising awareness about this concern, although our dependency makes nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. This urges for a solution making plastic production and degradation sustainable. To date, important efforts have been made to isolate and identify unique microorganisms capable of utilizing plastics as a carbon source. Although there is empirical evidence of it, the rates of biodegradation are still very low. In SOLFORPLAS project, we will apply cutting-edge biology tools, including fermentation and analytical processes, together with state-of-the-art methods in industrial microbiology research, to investigate plastic biodegradation using a highly-optimized strategy that combines an extruder and a bioreactor. The innovative combined strategy will integrate physical, chemical and biological treatment, which will mimic the whole biodegradation process taking place in worms. Multiple polymer characteristics will be monitored to determine/quantify its biodegradation. Overall, SOLFORPLAS project aim at stablishing a combined strategy to carry out plastic biodegradation as a solution for plastic pollution, one of the biggest environmental that humans are facing in this century.
Unfold all
/
Fold all
More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/840038 |
| Start date: | 02-09-2019 |
| End date: | 01-06-2022 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 184 707,84 Euro - 184 707,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
Since the 1970s, the mismanagement of plastic waste has been increasingly threatening our health and environment. Rather than been reduced, plastic production is growing exponentially. By 2050, the estimation of plastic waste in landfills or in the natural environment verges on 12 billion metric tons, if current production and waste management trends continue. Societies are raising awareness about this concern, although our dependency makes nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. This urges for a solution making plastic production and degradation sustainable. To date, important efforts have been made to isolate and identify unique microorganisms capable of utilizing plastics as a carbon source. Although there is empirical evidence of it, the rates of biodegradation are still very low. In SOLFORPLAS project, we will apply cutting-edge biology tools, including fermentation and analytical processes, together with state-of-the-art methods in industrial microbiology research, to investigate plastic biodegradation using a highly-optimized strategy that combines an extruder and a bioreactor. The innovative combined strategy will integrate physical, chemical and biological treatment, which will mimic the whole biodegradation process taking place in worms. Multiple polymer characteristics will be monitored to determine/quantify its biodegradation. Overall, SOLFORPLAS project aim at stablishing a combined strategy to carry out plastic biodegradation as a solution for plastic pollution, one of the biggest environmental that humans are facing in this century.Status
CLOSEDCall topic
MSCA-IF-2018Update Date
28-04-2024
Images
No images available.
Geographical location(s)
Search
