BIZENTE NEWSLETTER Issue number 3, October 2021
BIZENTE: LATEST ADVANCES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENZYMES AND MODIFICATION OF RESINES
Here it is the BIZENTE third newsletter to keep you up to date on the project’s progress.During these months, the project succeeded in the development of high-throughput assays for the detection of mutated variants of ligninases for the degradation of scaffold molecules of the polymers. These chemical models were selected after the study of the structure of different resins from the composites: epoxy, vinylester and polyester. Once the screening protocols were set up, several mutagenic libraries based on error-prone DNA amplification have been constructed and analyzed. Additionally, the team is working on trials to induce C-C- or C-O bond breakage using peroxygenases or haloperoxidases and analysing the results to assess its capacity on the degradation process. In this period, chemical modifications for each reference resin have been proposed and developed, to enhance reference resin materials biodegradability. The final conclusions will be released in the following months.This issue of BIZENTE newsletter presents a reflection about potential solutions to address the recyclability of thermoplastics. Besides, our colleague, Javier Viña shed some light on the enzymatic modification procedures. Finally, you will find an update on the events and conferences that took place during this period. Enjoy the reading!
NEW SOLUTIONS FOR RECYCLING THERMOPLASTICS
Plastic waste is one of the major threats to our ecosystems and the current end-of-life given to plastics negatively affects the environment. Circular economy is about to optimally manage waste in order to create an effective after-use plastic economy as a main strategy to promote recycling rates of plastics and to avoid further plastic littering on land and sea.
Many efforts and investment in thermoplastics have already been made, however, there has not been such focus put on thermoset plastics which are becoming a challenge for industry waste management, in particular those involving thermoset composite materials.
Know more about BIZENTE progress
CHAT WITH JAVIER VIÑA (EVOENZYME)
“BIZENTE applies a revolutionary degradation system on composites”
Javier Viña, Co-founder and Scientific Manager of EvoEnzyme, tell us how his company performs the customization of enzymes applying directed evolution strategies and how this process is assembled with the chemical modification of resins developed in BIZENTE.
Read the full interview
Webinar Brother projects
Last May, BIZENTE together with RECOVER and ENZYCLE projects carried out the webinar “Three Projects – One Solution: The Power of Enzymes” within the EU Green Week, focussed on enzymatic solutions for non-recyclable plastics.
BIZENTE in Biotrans
Bizente was presented in Biotrans 2021: Biocatalytic solutions for the end-of-life of thermoset materials with the poster “Biocatalytic solutions for the end-of-life of thermoset materials”. The poster was elaborated by EvoEnzyme.
BIZENTE Project Meetings
BIZENTE Consortium celebrated in May its second consortium meeting online due to COVID 19 restrictions. Despite that, the meeting was extremely fruitful and next steps for the following months were agreed. Next meeting will be held on-line in November, 17th.
