The EU-funded BioSupPack project, coordinated by Aimplas, has worked with 18 partners to develop and validate innovations that make it possible to transform brewery waste into high-quality packaging materials and facilitate their recycling using advanced recycling technologies.
The EU-funded BioSupPack project has successfully demonstrated that brewery waste can be converted into high-performance bioplastics for sustainable packaging. Over a period of five years, the consortium of 18 partners, coordinated by Aimplas, the Centre for Plastics Technology based in Valencia, Spain, developed and validated innovative materials based on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA and PHB) and production processes. These offer viable alternatives to fossil-based plastics and at the same time support compliance with the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
Creating a genuine circular economy
Rosa González Leyba (AIMPLAS), project coordinator, emphasises: „BioSupPack has shown that we can create a true circular economy by converting brewery waste into valuable packaging materials and reusing the packaging waste through innovative recycling technologies such as enzymatic recycling. Our consortium has successfully scaled up innovative biorefinery processes and developed bio-based materials for rigid packaging for food and non-food applications, resulting in packaging prototypes that are very close to current market products.“
The solutions developed include, for example, a biorefinery process for PHB production from brewery spent grains: BioSupPack has developed a scalable bioprocess that efficiently converts brewery spent grains into high-purity PHB through innovative plasma pre-treatment and microbial fermentation. This innovation transforms a low-value waste stream into a functional biopolymer while creating an industrial symbiosis between breweries and bioplastics producers. The process has reached TRL 6, proving its feasibility in industrially relevant environments.
The project was funded by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU, formerly BBI JU) with 7.6 million euros as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
SourceAIMPLAS
