[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6623\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EMicrowaves and microbes turn household waste into biodegradable plastic\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers are working hard to figure out how to harness the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/statistics-explained\/index.php\/Municipal_waste_statistics\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E477 kilograms of household waste\u003C\/a\u003E that that average person in the EU generates. Some of this waste is recycled, but a lot is still sent to landfill, burned to release heat for energy production, or fermented to produce methane fuel, and all of these can lead to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt would be better to find a way of turning our domestic waste into something more environmentally friendly and one hope lies in using microwaves and genetically engineered microbes to transform our waste into biodegradable plastic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESYNPOL, an EU-funded project, has recently developed a technique that could pave the way for such a revolution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheir new technique is based upon pyrolysis, which is a process where organic waste from households and industry is heated until it breaks down and forms hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, collectively known as syngas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px;\u0022\u003EThis process normally requires expensive high temperatures, but SYNPOL scientists have shown that if they blast the waste with microwaves at the same time they need less heat. This produces a cheaper syngas that is also richer in carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and lower in carbon dioxide, making it even more valuable.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese gases are then fed to genetically engineered bacteria which turn them into the building blocks of biodegradable plastics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the end of the supply chain, SYNPOL also demonstrated that when their bioplastics finally end up on a compost heap, they will completely biodegrade into harmless substances.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis would allow municipalities to transform all of their organic waste into syngas, which could then be used to produce cleaner fuel or bioplastics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018The principle has been demonstrated.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Jos\u00e9 Luis Garcia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient\u00edficas, Spain \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Professor Jos\u00e9 Luis Garcia, of the Spanish National Research Council, and coordinator of SYNPOL, syngas can also be converted into ethanol and then used as a fuel, but the price it receives is too low to be financially worthwhile. Bioplastics, however, could command a higher price.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere are other forms of organic waste, such as woody waste, for which pyrolysis and digestion by microbes are not a solution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPlastic from trees\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Irina Borodina, of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability in Denmark, is the coordinator of the EU-funded BioREFINE-2G project, which has been trying to find ways of transforming wood into sustainable by-products. Currently some woody matter can be fermented into bioethanol \u2013 but the rest of it resists this process because the yeast cannot break down the pentose sugars it contains.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis leftover waste is currently turned into low-value biogas, so the BioREFINE scientists have been trying to turn it into something of higher value \u2013 like plastic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe breakthrough came when Dr Borodina\u2019s team tried their hand at a revolutionary new genetic editing technique called CRISPR. This allowed them to produce a yeast that was able to tackle these resistant pentose sugars in the wood waste streams.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPreviously, conventional genetic engineering techniques could only be applied to laboratory specimens of yeast, which were too delicate for the robust environment of woody waste streams. But CRISPR allowed the team to engineer a tougher industrial yeast that could survive outside labs and also produce dicarboxylic acids \u2013 useful building blocks of bioplastic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther parts of the consortium got to work on these building blocks. One Portuguese member tackled the tricky issue of extracting the precious dicarboxylic acids from the fermented waste stream; and two Spanish members achieved the final step \u2013 turning them into new types of polymers that are biodegradable and can be used for packaging and adhesives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Dr Borodina, CRISPR has made a big difference in creating a greener business model for the industry, and these waste streams can now be \u2018turned into something useful in an economic and meaningful way\u2019.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022 \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver at the SYNPOL project, there have also been challenges. Prof. Garcia has had trouble instilling the work ethic into his genetically engineered bacteria. They do feed on the syngas and they do produce building blocks for bioplastics \u2013 but they work too slowly, and their output is too low to be economically viable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We believe that, in the end, we will be able to find bacteria that will produce bioplastic (effectively),\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe other stages of the project have met with more success. Prof. Garcia\u2019s team has demonstrated that microwave pyrolysis can work at laboratory scale. Scaling up, however, requires a more robust kit than one finds in a laboratory because microwaves and hydrogen is potentially an explosive combination.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut the Spanish National Research Council, along with Prof. Garcia, will be involved in a\u0026nbsp;further EU-funded project called CELBICON. It aims to scale-up the production of sustainable chemicals from syngas which will then help create the business case for this bioplastic production.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The principle has been demonstrated,\u2019 said Prof. Garcia. \u2018What is needed now is scale.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-lvpuridlyou8hrzfve8gz7ap7iynpjbcmawcrt0ihqo\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-lvpURIdLyOu8hRZFVE8GZ7Ap7iYNPJBCmAwcRt0IhQo\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]