BUGWORKERS

Objectives:

The project aims to develop a new cost-competitive and environmentally friendly bio-nanocomposite in order to obtain a feasible alternative to engineering materials in two main sectors: household appliances, and computers & telecommunications.

Description:

PHB has been produced by bacterial fermentation using sugar hydrolysates as a raw material extracted from agro-industrial sources such as wheat straw. The reduced cost of the wheat straw plus an optimised fermentation process with increased productivity has led to the production of reduced cost PHB.

The cost of the final PHB compound is estimated at between €4 and €5.5 per kg, which is comparable to the prices of other biopolymers currently on the market and is lower than commercial grade PHB.

Project partners:

3 research centres, 1 University and 11 companies