From seaweed farm to seaweed fork, from biomaterial to biomanufacturing - Development and manufacturing of Notpla Rigid material from whole biomass seaweed

根据该项目，财团成员的目标是建立一个独特的、基于英国生物技术的世界级生产能力，用于制造注塑原料“Notpla硬质颗粒”。这些产品是从包括英国种植的海藻在内的整个海藻生物质中提取的，以生产一种真正循环和可持续的产品(100%基于生物和家庭可堆肥)，将废物降至最低，降低投入成本，并显著减少对气候和环境的影响。我们将推进Notpla硬质材料，并在项目结束前建立生产数吨Notpla硬质产品的能力，以便转化为一系列产品。现有和即将出台的禁止一次性使用的塑料餐具的立法将创造巨大的新市场机会，我们的目标是用一种先进的生物产品(硬质材料一次性餐具)填充这个市场，这种产品由可持续的生物原料(海藻)制成，完全在英国制造。利用在英国种植的棕色海藻使我们能够支持英国海藻行业的发展，这一行业具有巨大的潜力，可以供应英国未来的生物原料来取代石化饲料。我们的财团包括代表价值链每个阶段的合作伙伴；海藻种植者、加工商、实验室开发和制造商。在这个项目的24个月中，联盟成员将着手进行合作的工业研究和开发，建立工作关系和伙伴关系，并分享各自领域工业化所需的专业知识。我们将在英国各行业建立长期合作，以提高制造能力。最后，我们将建立商业关系，以确保在项目结束时，我们能够将产品(餐具、二次包装等)商业化，为扩大生产和制造规模提供商业案例，并打造英国未来的绿色经济。此外，从农场到工厂大门再到处理过程的严格评估将使我们能够展示与传统塑料和生物塑料相比，我们的产品在缓解气候变化和保护环境方面的潜力，验证它们的循环和可持续性能。

Under this project, the consortium members aim to build a unique, world-class UK biotech-based production capacity for the manufacture of injection-moulded feedstock 'Notpla Rigid Pellets'. These are made from whole seaweed biomass including UK-grown seaweeds, to produce a truly circular and sustainable product (100% bio-based and home compostable) which minimises wastes, cuts input costs and significantly reduces climate and environmental impacts.We will advance the Notpla Rigid material and by project end have built out the capacity to produce tonnes of Notpla Rigid product, for conversion into a range of products. Existing and incoming legislation banning single-use, disposable plastic cutlery will create vast new market opportunities which we aim to fill with an advanced bioproduct (Rigid material single-use cutlery) made from a sustainable, bio-based feedstock (Seaweed) and manufactured entirely in the UK.Utilising brown seaweed grown in the UK allows us to support the growth of the UK seaweed sector, an industry with significant potential to supply the UK's future bio-based feedstocks to replace petrochemical feedstocks.Our consortium comprises partners representing every stage of the value chain; seaweed growers, processors, lab development and manufacturers. Over the 24 months of this project, the consortium members will embark on collaborative industrial research and development, building working relationships and partnerships and sharing specialist expertise in their respective areas needed for industrialisation. We will build long-term cooperation across UK sectors to grow manufacturing capacity.Finally, we will build the commercial relationships to ensure that by project end, we are positioned to commercialise the products (cutlery, secondary packaging and others), providing the business case for scaling up production and manufacturing and building out the UK's future green economy. In addition, rigorous assessment of the process from farm to factory gate to disposal will enable us to demonstrate the potential of our products to mitigate climate change and protect the environment when compared to traditional plastics and bioplastics, verifying their circular and sustainable properties.