Graphene-enhanced bioplastics for sustainable packaging applications

这一具有工业意义和支持的多学科项目旨在开发新技术，通过使用各种形式的石墨烯来开发具有增强性能的生物降解塑料-聚羟基烷酸酯(PHAs)。我们利用不同规模和模式(批次/补料批次)的发酵，从可持续的生物质来源生物生产PHA，以及随后通过使用石墨烯和基于石墨烯的材料(例如，石墨烯氧化物和石墨烯纳米管)有效地生物生产实际生物聚合物及其功能化。将评估由此产生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，如生物精炼、粗甘油、烟道气等，以及新的石墨烯氧化物电化学合成路线。一个先进的实验和计算研究的激动人心的结合正在发生：我们之前关于基于分批发酵生产PHB的工作，为这个项目提供了有效的起点。计算工作包括结合先进的优化技术建造反应器模拟器，以获得解决生物质/产品分离等重要问题的最佳生物反应器配置，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.