Members of the Microbial Biosystems group were at the Ibero-American Congress of Chemical Engineering, where they presented their results on the synthesis of PHAs and PLA polylactic acid, both bioplastics of great interest.
The Microbial Biosystem group (Dr. Jorge Barriuso) wants to contribute to the establishment of clean bioprocesses based on the use of agro-industrial and plastic waste, for sustainable development. This is to help reduce the consumption of fossil resources and global warming, and the use and reuse of waste in accordance with the concepts of biorefinery and circular economy.
To do this, the use of microorganisms in complex biotransformations is studied, analyzing their ability to degrade various substrates and produce value-added compounds, as well as their ability to interact with each other by forming consortia and catalytic biofilms.
In the different investigations carried out, biocatalysis aims to replace polluting processes, producing in some cases compounds that are impossible to obtain chemically, thus being able to contribute to the development of sustainable processes.
Regarding plastic production and recycling processes, it is worth highlighting the projects focused on the production of bioplastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from renewable sources, as well as the search for an efficient way to degrade plastics. conventional such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyethylene (PE), to subsequently synthesize value-added compounds.
The group presented the results of the synthesis of PHAs and PLA polylactic acid at the Ibero-American Congress of Chemical Engineering 2023.
Researcher from the Microbial Biosystems Group presenting the results at the Ibero-American Congress of Chemical Engineering