Enzymic polymerisation, characterisation and market evaluation of a set of novel bioplastic co-polymers derived from renewable resources
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Plastics are produced on an enormous scale, both within the UK and globally, and are used in functional products all around us. The vast majority of plastics are currently produced from no-renewable depleting fossil resources, predominately crude oil. There has been recent widespread research into the conversion of sustainable and renewable biomass to monomers and polymers, ideally looking to utilise the most abundant form of waste biomass, lignocellulose. Biome's (company lead) overall strategy is to produce novel highly functional polyesters from this lignocellulose by using industrial biotechnology. This project with the Universities of York and Liverpool will take lignocellulose-derived aromatic diacids (monomers) and utilise enzymes in a multi-step polymerisation to produce a targeted group of novel copolymers and explore their properties. The project will also determine whether this biocatalysis can be undertaken in-situ of the diacid production and will provide quantities of bio-derived plastics to be assessed for their potential in high value markets, and will also demonstrate the capability of the bio-catalytic reactions to be scaled to >1 kg. Previous work (supported by Innovate UK) has already demonstrated that the aromatic diacids can be produced from both lignin and cellulose using both engineered bacteria/enzymes and a scale-up for diacid formation is already underway. These diacids have already been used to make the first small quantities of novel polyester copolymers (with exciting preliminary properties), prompting this project application. This project will additionally contribute to the development of these novel bio-derived polymers through the assessment of induced chain-branching, thus altering their physical properties and eventual application. It will also undertake initial investigations into the end-of-life options for these polymers, including breaking them back down to monomer units, ensuring that after product use their environmental footprint will be minimised.
Technical Summary
Plastics are produced on an enormous scale, both within and the UK and globally. Currently, the vast majority of plastics produced are derived from no-renewable depleting fossil resources, predominately crude oil. There has been recent widespread research into the conversion of biomass to monomers and polymers, ideally looking to utilise the most abundant form of waste biomass, lignocellulose. There has also been a growing interest in the use of bio-catalytic processes to bring about molecular transformation that have traditionally been carried out solely via chemo-catalytic routes. This project brings together both these aspects of work as it will demonstrate how bio-catalysis can be applied in the synthesis of novel polyesters from bio-derived feedstocks. It will use several diacids that Biome can now produce from lignocellulose, and will use expertise in the Universities of York and Liverpool to utilise enzymes in a multi-step lipase-catalysed polymerisation to produce a targeted group of novel copolymers and explore their properties. The project will also determine whether this biocatalysis can be undertaken in-situ of the diacid production and will provide quantities of bio-derived plastics to be assessed for their potential in high value markets, and will also demonstrate the capability of the bio-catalytic reactions to be scaled to >1 kg. This project will additionally contribute to the development of these novel bio-derived polymers through the assessment of induced chain-branching, thus altering their physical properties and eventual application. It will also undertake initial investigations into the end-of-life options for these polymers, including breaking them back down to monomer units, ensuring that after product use their environmental footprint will be minimised.
Planned Impact
As described in proposal submitted to IUK
Publications
Little A
(2020)
Effects of Methyl Branching on the Properties and Performance of Furandioate-Adipate Copolyesters of Bio-Based Secondary Diols.
in ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering
Lie Y
(2020)
Work-hardening Photopolymer from Renewable Photoactive 3,3'-(2,5-Furandiyl)bisacrylic Acid.
in ChemSusChem
Pellis A
(2020)
Enzymatic synthesis of biobased polyesters utilizing aromatic diols as the rigid component
in European Polymer Journal
Pellis A
(2018)
Elucidating enzymatic polymerisations: Chain-length selectivity of Candida antarctica lipase B towards various aliphatic diols and dicarboxylic acid diesters
in European Polymer Journal
Arnaud SP
(2017)
New bio-based monomers: tuneable polyester properties using branched diols from biomass.
in Faraday discussions
Pellis A
(2017)
Fully renewable polyesters via polycondensation catalyzed by Thermobifida cellulosilytica cutinase 1: an integrated approach
in Green Chemistry
Comerford JW
(2020)
Thermal Upgrade of Enzymatically Synthesized Aliphatic and Aromatic Oligoesters.
in Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
Pellis A
(2019)
Enzymatic synthesis of lignin derivable pyridine based polyesters for the substitution of petroleum derived plastics
in Nature Communications
Pellis A
(2019)
Enzymatic synthesis of unsaturated polyesters: functionalization and reversibility of the aza-Michael addition of pendants
in Polymer Chemistry
Farmer T
(2018)
Post-polymerization modification of bio-based polymers: maximizing the high functionality of polymers derived from biomass
in Polymer International
Description | Developing rural biorefineries in India-a scoping exercise |
Amount | £5,184 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/GCRF-IAA/23 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2016 |
End | 01/2017 |
Description | Erwin Schroedinger Fellowship |
Amount | € 160,210 (EUR) |
Funding ID | J 4014-N34 |
Organisation | Austrian Science Fund (FWF) |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Austria |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | New Bio-based Monomers from Platform Molecules |
Organisation | University of California, Davis |
Department | Department of Chemistry |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We received samples of new bio-derived monomers and used them in the synthesis of novel bio-derived polymers. The polymers where extensively analysed and their physical properties determined. The study is ongoing as other new monomers are produced and applied to polymerisations. |
Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Mark Mascal (UC Davis) has developed routes to a range of novel monomers from bio-derived platform molecules, and as part of this collaboration sent samples of the new monomers to the University of York for testing to polymerisations. Prof. Mascal has also assisted in the preparation of research articles following this study. |
Impact | Research article: ChemSusChem, 2017, 10,166 -170 |
Start Year | 2015 |