Graphene-enhanced bioplastics for sustainable packaging applications

这个具有工业相关性和支持的多学科项目旨在开发新技术，用于开发可生物降解塑料-聚羟基链烷酸酯（PHA），通过使用各种形式的石墨烯来增强性能。我们利用不同规模和模式（分批/补料分批）的发酵，用于从可持续的生物质来源生物生产PHA，以及随后有效生物生产实际生物聚合物沿着它们的功能化，通过使用石墨烯和石墨烯基材料（例如氧化石墨烯和石墨烯纳米管）。将评估所生产的生物材料的增强机械性能，以及拟议的方法组合的经济潜力。该项目的重点是可持续的碳资源，例如生物炼制粗甘油，烟道气等，以及石墨烯氧化物的新型电化学合成路线。先进的实验和计算研究的令人兴奋的结合正在发生：我们以前关于分批发酵生产PHB的工作为这个项目提供了有效的起点。计算工作涉及与先进的优化技术相结合的反应器模拟器的建设，以获得最佳的生物反应器配置，解决重要的问题，如生物质/产品分离，以及有效的提取技术。

This multidisciplinary project with industrial relevance and support aims to develop novel technologies, for the development of biodegradable plastics - Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with enhanced properties through the use of graphene in various forms. We exploit fermentation at different scales and modes (batch/fed-batch) for PHA bioproduction from sustainable biomass sources as well as the subsequent efficient bioproduction of the actual biopolymers along with their functionalisation through the use of graphene and graphene-based materials (e.g. graphene oxide, and graphene nanotubes). The resulting enhanced mechanical properties of the produced biomaterials will be assessed, as well as the economic potential of the proposed combination of methodologies. The project focuses on sustainable carbon resources, such as e.g. biorefinery crude glycerol, flue gases etc. and novel electrochemical synthesis routes for the graphene oxides. An exciting combination of both advanced experimental and computational studies is taking place: Our previous work on batch fermentation-based production of PHB, have provided effective starting points for this project. Computational work involve the construction of reactor simulators in conjunction with advanced optimisation techniques in order to obtain optimal bioreactor configurations addressing important issues such as biomass/product separation, as well as efficient extraction techniques.