The environmental and social concerns surrounding the use of fossil fuels and food crops make lignocellulose a challenging but compelling target source of high value chemicals. Previous and ongoing IB Catalyst studies undertaken by Biome, the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and the Universities of Leeds, Liverpool and Warwick have demonstrated the feasibility of bioprocesses from lignocellulose to polyester pre-cursors. This project will seek to develop a continuous, pilot-scale enzymic process to produce a high purity polyester pre-cursor and convert it into a suite of highly functional polyesters. The work will be undertaken by a consortium of Biome Technologies Ltd and the Universities of Liverpool and Leeds. We believe that the project has the potential to advance the UK’s knowledge and commercial position in the field of advanced bio-based materials.

Plastics are an essential part of life as we know it. However, their sourcing from fossil-based raw materials and end-of-life issues have contributed to the scrutiny and desire for change at governmental, industrial and societal levels. Biome's novel packaging impacts both issues - sourced from renewable bio-based origins and compostable. An estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic waste have been generated globally since the 1950s (Statista,2022) of which over 50% remains in landfill or loose in the environment. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the production, recycling and disposal of plastics is more than double that of air travel (Nature-Climate-Change,2019). In line with current demand, fossil-based plastics are produced at a rate of ~330mtpa. While useful and ubiquitous, they have been developed focusing on function over end-of-life performance and their environmental impact. Recycling alone is not the complete answer to the "plastics problem". This includes cost, food contamination, degradation and environmental leakage to soils and oceans. Bio-based and biodegradable plastics are an important part of the solution providing low-carbon routes to such materials and biodegradation in appropriate environments. This collaborative project between Biome Technologies plc (UK) and ANPOLY (S.KOREA) will accelerate the manufacturing process and product optimisation, scaling-up of cellulose nanofibre (CNF) containing materials in partnership with existing commercial customers. The project's outcome will facilitate the commercial deployment of a new range of sustainable and biodegradable materials, reducing landfill and the environmental burden of non-biodegradable plastics in composts and soils whilst increasing productivity and growth for the wider UK (bio)economy.

Plastics are an essential part of life as we know it. However, their sourcing from fossil-based raw materials and end-of-life issues have contributed to the scrutiny and desire for change at governmental, industrial and societal levels. Biome's novel packaging impacts both issues - sourced from renewable bio-based origins and compostable. An estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic waste have been generated globally since the 1950s (Statista,2022) of which over 50% remains in landfill or loose in the environment. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the production, recycling and disposal of plastics is more than double that of air travel (Nature-Climate-Change,2019). In line with current demand, fossil-based plastics are produced at a rate of ~330mtpa. While useful and ubiquitous, they have been developed focusing on function over end-of-life performance and their environmental impact. Recycling alone is not the complete answer to the "plastics problem". This includes cost, food contamination, degradation and environmental leakage to soils and oceans. Bio-based and biodegradable plastics are an important part of the solution providing low-carbon routes to such materials and biodegradation in appropriate environments. This collaborative project between Biome Technologies plc, Thomas Swan & Co and Nottingham University's Chemical Engineering Department will accelerate the manufacturing process and product optimisation, scaling-up of four novel bioplastics from Biome's current research in partnership with existing commercial customers. The project's outcome will facilitate the commercial deployment of a new range of sustainable and biodegradable materials, reducing landfill and the environmental burden of non-biodegradable plastics in composts and soils whilst increasing productivity and growth for the wider UK (bio)economy.

An estimated 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste has been generated globally since the 1950s (Science, 2017) of which approximately 80% remains in landfill or loose in the environment. Global greenhouse gas emissions from the production and disposal of plastics is more than double that of air travel (Nature Climate Change, 2019). In line with current demand, oil-based plastics are produced at a rate of ~350mtpa. While useful, they have been developed focusing on function than end-of-life performance and their environmental impact. Recycling alone is not the complete answer to the “plastics problem”. These include cost, food contamination, polymer degradation and environmental leakage. Bio-based and biodegradable plastics are an important part of the solution. This project will unlock the UK based production of novel platform biomonomers and work towards increasing productivities required for the scale-up of novel bioplastics from Biome’s current research in partnership with existing commercial customers. The main work packages of this project will focus on scaling up production of these monomers, through strain engineering and fermentation optimisation, to yield techno economically feasible titres for viable commercial bioplastics production at scale. The project’s outcome will work towards unlocking the commercial deployment of a new range of sustainable and biodegradable materials that can contribute to the UK’s goal of 70% of plastics packaging effectively recycled or composted by 2025. Reducing in real terms the environmental burden of plastics whilst increasing productivity and growth for the wider UK (bio)economy.

The environmental and social concerns surrounding the use of fossil fuels and food crops make lignin a compelling target as a source of chemicals. Considered of low commercial value, lignin is one of the few potential natural sources of aromatic chemicals. This project targets the useful aromatic building blocks for platform chemicals within lignin that can be substituted in plastics' intermediates. This project builds on a Technical Feasibility project undertaken by Biome Bioplastics and the University of Warwick, and seeks to demonstrate that metabolites extracted previously at laboratory scale can be produced in a commercially viable manner through the selective disintegration of lignin using bacteria and/or enzymes in fed batch/continuous reactors of scale. Larger trials will be undertaken at CPI and the resultant demonstration quantities of chemicals will be converted into novel materials, for evaluation in a high value market.