ECOSYSTEM

Areas of intervention:
ECOSYSTEM is an EU-funded initiative selected under the Horizon EIC-2024 Pathfinder programme, Challenge 3, on nature-inspired alternatives for food packaging and agricultural films. The project is inspired by an ecosystem and its dynamics, where waste biomass, raw materials, monomers, polymers, and products form a value chain that interacts through sustainable tools.
Goals:

ECOSYTEM seeks to develop a new generation of biopolyesters using building blocks prepared from sustainable technologies. These building blocks will be obtained from natural resources via a biorefinery approach, ensuring a fully sustainable production process. The project is strategically aligned with the objectives and categories stated in the Challenge Portfolio.
ECOSYSTEM will use polymers extracted from nature like cellulose and lignin; nature inspired polymers including microbials, fungal and plant materials; and synthetic polymers from biobased monomers and raw materials synthesized using mechanochemistry from building blocks. The materials developed in ECOSYSTEM will be used in the manufacture of semirigid (clamshell for perishable fruits) and flexible (pharma blisters) packaging and their barrier properties will be investigated. Finally, multifunctional mulching films will be designed and prepared.

Discover the project
Funding:

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Partnership:
  • Funditec – Role: coordination, Biopolyesters, monomers biosynthesis & active ingredients.
  • CSIC (Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) – Role: biomass extraction, monomers and active ingredients mechanosynthesis, & Plastics Reusing
  • KNEIA – Role: communication, dissemination, exploitation and portfolio activities.
  • Agricola 2000 – Role: Biomass provider and validation of mulching films.
  • DTI (Danish Technological Institute) – Role: biobased soil sensors.
  • AIMPLAS (Asociación de Investigación de Materiales Plásticos y Conexas) – Role: Biopolymers processing & chemical recycling
  • UNIFE (Università degli Studi di Ferrara) – Role: Biodegradability Studies
  • MBP (Mountain Berries Pitsilia NV LTD) – Role: Biomass provider and berries packaging shelf-life testing
  • TEMAS (TEMAS Solutions GMBH) – Role: SSbd, LCA and Regulatory