Functional Xylose Polymer Platform for Sustainable Plastics

The project aims to develop the technologies which will enable the utilisation of sugar molecules derived from the
biological and biochemical engineering treatment of biomass, and transform them into a platform of new polymers
with properties relevant to applications. The approach will also incorporate the end-of-life of these new materials,
either by studying their degradation under various conditions, or by feeding them back to biological and biochemical
processes.
We will focus, amongst the large carbohydrate pool, on D-xylose, as it is abundant, comes from waste and non-edible
crops, and its price ($0.5/kg) is close to petrochemical feedstocks.
Furthermore, xylose is easily modified, in particular via ketal functionalisation, and the ability to work with its furanose
or pyranose form offers multiple monomer possibilities.
By creating a platform of functional xylose-based polymers, we will also strive to identify a clear structure/property
relationship, which will be exploited to deliver polymers with the desired properties, including for application as
commodity plastic materials.
Our work programme will include:
1) the optimal (few steps, renewable reagents) and scalable (target scale 100g) synthesis of functionalised
monomers from xylose, including polar cyclic monomers, cyclic and acyclic olefins;
2) the utilization of xylose-rich stream obtained from biological and biochemical treatments of selected biomass (e.g.
xylans)
3) the controlled polymerisation of these monomers using ring-opening polymerisation (including metathesis), acyclic
diene metathesis polymerisation, and reversible deactivation radical polymerisation methods;
4) the complete thermal, mechanical and physical characterisation of the synthesised polymers;
5) the formulation of a general structure-property relationship for this new polymer platform;
6) the exploitation of these material design rules to develop better polymers;
7) the processing and further evaluation of selected polymers as c ommodity plastics
8) the utilization of the polymers as feedstock for selected biological and biochemical processes, to explore
alternative end-of-life options to thermal or hydrolytic degradation.

The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Sustainable Chemical Technologies (SCT) at the University of Bath will place fundamental concepts of sustainability at the core of a broad spectrum of research and training at the interface of chemical science and engineering. It will train over 60 PhD students in 5 cohorts within four themes (Energy and Water, Renewable Resources and Biotechnology, Processes and Manufacturing and Healthcare Technologies) and its activities and graduates will have potential economic, environmental and social impact across a wide range of beneficiaries from academia, public sector and government, to industry, schools and the general public.

The primary impact of the CDT will be in providing a pool of highly skilled and talented graduates as tomorrow's leaders in industry, academia, and policy-making, who are committed to all aspects of sustainability. The economic need for such graduates is well-established and CDT graduates will enhance the economic competitiveness of the UK chemistry-using sector, which accounts for 6m jobs (RSC 2010), contributing £25b to the UK economy in 2010 (RSC 2013). The Industrial Biotechnology (IB) Innovation and Growth Team (2009) estimated the value of the IB market in 2025 between £4b and £12b, and CIKTN (BIS) found that "chemistry, chemical engineering and biology taken together underpin some £800b of activity in the UK economy".

UK industry will also gain through collaborative research and training proposed in the Centre. At this stage, the CDT has 24 partners including companies from across the chemistry- and biotechnology-using sectors. As well as direct involvement in collaborative CDT projects, the Centre will provide an excellent mechanism to engage with industrial and manufacturing partners via the industrial forum and the Summer Showcase, providing many opportunities to address economic, environmental and societal challenges, thereby achieving significant economic and environmental impact.

Many of the issues and topics covered by the centre (e.g., sustainable energy, renewable feedstocks, water, infection control) are of broad societal interest, providing excellent opportunities for engagement of a wide range of publics in broader technical and scientific aspects of sustainability. Social impact will be achieved through participation of Centre students and staff in science cafés, science fairs (Cheltenham Science Festival, British Science Festival, Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition) and other events (e.g., Famelab, I'm a Scientist Get Me Out of Here). Engagement with schools and schoolteachers will help stimulate the next generation of scientists and engineers through enthusing young minds in relevant topics such as biofuels, solar conversion, climate change and degradable plastics.

The activities of the CDT have potential to have impact on policy and to shape the future landscape of sustainable chemical technologies and manufacturing. The CDT will work with Bath's new Institute for Policy Research, through seminars, joint publication of policy briefs to shape and inform policy relevant to SCT. Internship opportunities with stakeholder partners and, for example, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology will provide further impact in this context.