Ercros will design a biobased polymers production process along with CSIC and CENER

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Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. 

Ercros will participate along with CSIC and CENER in the design of a production process for biobased polymers. The results of this joint research are expected to be the starting point of a technology for the industrial production of these sustainable polymers. 

Figure 1. Ercros will design a biobased polymers production process along with CSIC and CENER (taken from the press release) 

Ercros has reached an agreement with the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and the National Center for Renewable Energies (CENER - Centro Nacional de Energías Renovables) to design the technology of a bioprocess to produce bacterial polymers, from the investigation of biological raw materials to the production in pilot plant. 

Two CSIC research teams are participating in this project, grouped into the interdisciplinary platform SusPlast (Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics towards a Circular Economy). The two teams are the Polymer Biotechnology Group, from the Margarita Salas Biological Research Center (CIB-CSIC), led by Auxiliadora Prieto, who also coordinates the platform; and the Systems Biotechnology Group, of the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), directed by Juan Nogales. 

These biopolymers will be useful for short and long-term uses and will be used in industrial sectors as diverse as packaging, agriculture and cosmetics, and in applications where high susceptibility to biodegradation in the environment and domestic and industrial compostability is required. The new technology will lower the production costs of biopolymers by having a more efficient, more sustainable process (since it uses raw materials with a low carbon footprint) and which provides advantages derived from the performance of the materials.

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