Ancient enzymes to improve the biodegradation of plastics

Plastic pollution is a problem that begins long before it reaches the environment, and so must be the solution. To this aim, the RevoluZion project will develop innovative biobased bioplastic material formulations using advanced enzyme engineering techniques.

Through a process called directed evolution, tailor-made enzymes with high potential (improved stability and in vitro evolvability) will be designed for programmed biodegradation and compostability. The obtained blends of polyesters as matrix and enzymatic functional additives aspire to contribute as an integral solution to plastics waste management.

The idea of the project is to reduce the typical times for composting to make the industrial treatment of compostable plastic articles attractive and economically viable, or to allow compostability in domestic conditions and/or biodegradability in open environments (water, soil) of resins exclusively reserved for industrial composting. The formulations could serve different applications, for example, to produce coffee capsules or articles for agriculture.

The RevoluZion project is part of the Next Generation EU European Plan. Grant PLEC2021-008188 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”. The consortium is made up of Kompuestos (Palau Solità i Plegamans, Spain) as the project leader, together with different top-quality research centres and universities: AITIIP (Zaragoza, Spain), the University of Granada (Granada, Spain), and 2 research groups from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC – Madrid, Spain).