Enzymatic degradation and recycling of plastic

Purpose and goal:

The overall purpose of the project was to develop processes and products that can reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste. The project demonstrated how enzymatic polyester recycling from textile waste can be carried out in an environmentally and cost-effective way and which raw materials can be used. The project also produced products made of bioplastics which can be broken down in a controlled manner with the help of enzymes without creating harmful microplastics.

An important development step was also taken, a step towards being able to scale up enzyme production. Expected results and effects:

Pure polyester textile can be broken down 10 times more efficiently than when it is mixed with cotton. However, if the cotton was pretreated with enzyme, then the remaining polyester could be broken down just as effectively. A recycling process for pure polyester textile or pre-treated blended textile can now be scaled up.

Experiments with bioplastics showed that the plastic can easily be formed into various products that can be used for disposable packaging and that the plastic under controlled forms can be broken down with the help of enzymes to reduce the amount of harmful plastic waste. Approach and implementation:

Results were generated through chemical and enzymatic experiments on raw materials of polyester textile and mixed textile with polyester and cotton as well as with experiments with different bioplastics. But an equally important part as the experimental parts has been customer contact in the recycling and packaging industry, who have, among other things, shared real plastic samples.

Iterative work has made it possible to solve several technical limitations and new knowledge generated in the project has strengthened the company´s competitive situation.