Project News: Engineering new bio-polymer plastics

During the first year of the SEALIVE project, partners at CEA, ITENE, IPC and Seabird, have been busy developing formulas for new and advanced bio-plastics. Using different microalgae strains,  the team has tested various experimental set-ups, to maximize the amount of starch needed for bioplastic production. The experiments have been performed under controlled conditions in the lab and will be upscaled to a small pilot once the media, light, and other growth conditions have been optimized.

Another part of this work involves developing bio-based additives and fluorescent markers to improve the characteristics of the new bioplastic. For example, antioxidant molecules have been added to improve the aging of the material while different fluorescent molecules have been added to improve the sorting of the different plastic materials at end-of-life.

Special thanks to Gatien Fleury, CEA for news and images from SEALIVE Work Package 2.