Better Biobased Polymer Network

ongoing

The transition of the historically established chemistry toward biobased feedstocks and integrated biotechnology will reinvent the chemistry of the 21st century. New chemistry processes will not simply repeat fossil-based reactions but offer fully new opportunity spaces for coming up sustainable materials. The research focuses on biobased polymers and materials with superior product properties, thus making a significant contribution to achieve the GREEN DEAL goals of the European Union. The consortium joins leading academic partners with high- tech SMEs and world-class producers of enzymes, adhesives and coatings. The research explores two highly relevant strategies for the future biobased polymer industry: the direct modification of biopolymers and biotechnological production of monomers. Work on the direct enzymatic modification of lignin combines extraction and blending of lignin with selective chemoenzymatic functionalization. Metabolic, enzyme and bioprocess engineering is combined to develop routes towards biobased lactones, whose sustainable ring-opening-polymerization leads to new co-polyesters. B3PO studies the application of the biobased polymers in adhesives, coatings and biomedical 3D materials, and their biodegradation. Conversion of biomass to high-value functional polymers requires very different methods and thus highly trained scientists withinterdisciplinary skills. B3PO’s double degree program offers unique interdisciplinary training at the interface of industrial biotechnology and polymer science, complemented by transferable skills with emphasis on creativity and an ntrepreneurial mindset. B3PO ths offers a unique, highly intersectoral and interdisciplinary environment to provide 15 double degree PhD candidates with outstanding employability profiles for the European industry.