From rubbish to cell phone, Spanish company produces bioplastic

Record ID: 1713184

  • Title: From rubbish to cell phone, Spanish company produces bioplastic
  • Date: 28th February 2023
  • Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (FEBRUARY 27, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROCESS TO CREATE BIOPLASTIC FROM ORGANIC WASTE SIGN READING (English): "PHA bioplastic production" VARIOUS OF PROCESS TO CREATE BIOPLASTIC FROM ORGANIC WASTE CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF VENVIROTECH, PATRICIA AYMA, AT AN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF VENVIROTECH, PATRICIA AYMA, SAYING: “What we d
  • Embargoed: 14th March 2023 15:17
  • Keywords: Barcelona MWC MWC2023 Mobile World Congress Tech biodegradable plastic innovations material technology
  • Location: BARCELONA, SPAIN
  • City: BARCELONA, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Europe,Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA001342627022023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Spanish biotechnology company VEnvirotech is giving organic waste a second life by using bacteria to produce bioplastic.
    The company says they are capable of processing the waste at its source by using a specific type of bacteria to create volatile fatty acids that VEnvirotech use in a bioreactor to produce PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) bioplastic.
    “What we do is to take organic waste from our food companies and we prepare this organic waste for a very special bacteria," said co-founder and CEO of VEnvirotech Patricia Ayma at their kiosk at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress.
    "These bacteria have the ability to eat the organic waste and at the same time to produce these biodegradable bioplastics. For the bacteria, this biodegradable bioplastic is like an energy reserve. So we optimise and select the best bacteria that are able to eat the organic waste and produce this biodegradable bioplastic."
    Through an extraction and purification process, the PHA is ready to be used in medical and technological applications.
    The company uses beer bagasse, egg shells, sea oysters, or potato pulp to achieve the desired strength, stiffness, and flexibility of the bioplastic.
    “We can formulate our bioplastics to have different applications, rigid applications, flexible applications, and the most important ones are biomedical applications because it's biocompatible. That means that if I put that bioplastic inside your body, you won’t do a rejection,” Ayma said.
    The bioplastic can be printed using a 3D printer to shape the final product.
    (Production: Horaci Garcia, Miguel Gutierrez, Elena Rodriguez, Silvio Castellanos)
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