The Project

Our Vision

The current production of bioplastics is often energy‑intensive and dependent on high‑quality water and costly organic substrates. RENEW breaks this cycle by using photosynthetic microorganisms (cyanobacteria) that thrive in treated wastewater. This innovative approach reduces energy consumption, operational costs, and environmental pressure — paving the way for a truly circular bioplastic industry.

Specific Objectives

Stable Microbiomes: Maintaining resilient cyanobacterial communities in treated wastewater to ensure reliable and high PHA yields.
Metabolic Engineering: Unravelling the cellular pathways and triggers that activate PHA production to optimise efficiency.
Green Chemistry: Developing sustainable extraction and purification strategies as alternatives to conventional halogenated solvents.
Tunable Biodegradability: Modulating the material properties of PHA to determine how and when it degrades in the environment.
Impact Assessment: Evaluating environmental, social and economic impacts to support future industrial upscaling and market adoption.

Project Structure & Methodology

WP1: Optimization and Production of PHA

Focuses on core biological processes. We operate 30L photobioreactors using secondary effluent and ultrafiltration membranes. To ensure stability, we perform advanced microbial community analysis via flow cytometry and use multi-omics to master the cellular pathways of PHA production.

WP2: Customizable PHA Production

We develop sustainable disruption methods and use Green Chemistry (NADES) for extraction. A key innovation here is embedding bacterial spores within the bioplastic film to achieve programmable biodegradability.

WP3: Impact Assessment

We ensure the safety and viability of our bioplastic. This includes rigorous micropollutant analysis and a full evaluation through Life Cycle Assessment, Social LCA, and Life Cycle Costing.

WP4 & WP5: Transversal Actions

Engaging with stakeholders and ensuring our results reach the market and the scientific community. And ensuring seamless coordination between our international partners.