ENBIOMECH · Sustainable mechanochemical synthesis of nanomaterials from biomass
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-06-01 → 2024-03-06
- EU contribution
- €202,681
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Sustainable mechanochemical synthesis of nanomaterials from biomass
The ENBIOMECH project aimed to create sustainable and efficient methods for producing bio-based nanomaterials from cellulose and lignin using mechanochemistry and related solid-state synthetic approaches. Cellulose, a renewable resource, can yield valuable nanomaterials such as cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) through mechanical, chemical and/or enzymatic processing. Due to the high aspect ratio, tensile strength, and tunable surface chemistry, these nanomaterials have a strong impact on the properties of composite materials, making them highly sought after by various industries. For example, the food and beverage, textile, and personal care industries utilize nanocelluloses in sustainable packaging solutions, driving the demand for their production. The overarching objectives of the ENBIOMECH project were: - Develop mechanochemical technologies for efficient and renewable biocatalyst-based (enzyme) production of cellulose and lignin nanoparticles, and characterize the obtained materials. - Create a facile mechanochemical method for covalently modifying CNCs with oligonucleotides, to create CNC-based self-sorting nanoscale building blocks. - Investigate the supramolecular self-assembly of oligonucleotide-CNC nanoarrays. The ENBIOMECH project made significant advances in transforming cellulose materials, namely in utilizing cellulase enzymes in solid-state reactions to transform cotton to cellulose nanomaterials and in mechanochemical modification of cellulose nanocrystals. Unlike traditional chemical synthesis and modification methods of CNCs, which require large volumes of caustic or toxic chemicals and clean water, the solvent-free cellulose modification methods developed within this project provide fast and environmentally benign approaches, that curb the amount of hazardous waste generated. As a result, the ENBIOMECH project contributes to EU priority topics, such as resource efficiency in sustainable forestry, promoting renewable materials, and environmentally conscious use of energy, water, and raw materials. The ENBIOMECH project provided an opportunity for the researcher to return to Europe and build a scientific career aligned with the strong regional interest in biomass derived products. Through the programme, the researcher gained experience in leading independent research, project supervision and management, and building a wide scientific network, all of which have helped advanced her career.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Cellulose and lignin constitute an unlimited natural resource for materials production, with the potential to substitute most of the currently used petroleum-based products. However, processing biomass into value-added products, such as cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) is strongly limited by the insolubility these biopolymers, and thus generally requires large volumes of caustic or toxic chemicals and clean water, while generating hazardous waste. The ENBIOMECH project will first develop sustainable, environmentally friendly and efficient methods to produce CNCs and LNPs from biomass by employing enzymes in mechanochemical approaches, through which chemical transformations can be achieved in the solid state without solubilization of the biopolymers. Mechanochemistry will thereafter be used to convert the CNCs into a set of self-sorting nanoscale building blocks, by developing new facile methods for covalent surface modification of CNCs. Finally, various solid-state techniques will be investigated to reach new chiral nanoarchitectures from the obtained CNC building blocks, by gaining control over their supramolecular assembly. Switching to mechanochemical methods provides a fast and simple route to materials discovery, thus the ambitious ENBIOMECH project seeks to deliver a strong impact to the field of renewable bio-based materials by offering resource-conserving technologies to researchers and industry, aligned with the EU goals for the development of a green and sustainable economy. This project will bring together the researcher skilled in mechanochemical methods with the leading experts in cellulose chemistry and nanostructured biohybrid materials (supervisors), within a host institution strongly focussed on the development of bio-based materials and dedicated infrastructure ideally suited for supporting the proposed research.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR · EspooCoordinatorFinland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union