The bioplastics industry could be at a turning point. Because as well as using biomass and plant-based sources that do not compete with food supply chains, it may now be able to produce biodegradable plastic using atmospheric CO2 as a "building block" too. The innovation is entirely Italian, born from a collaboration between Bio-On and Hera, which at the end of 2018 gave rise to Lux-on, a new Italy-based company that will handle the development and industrialisation of the technology.

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Bioplastic from carbon dioxide to bid farewell to fossil sources

The new technology, as the newly established company explains, involves the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) present in the atmosphere as a carbon source for the production of bioplastic, 100 per cent biodegradable. Bio-on has developed an exclusive process for producing the family of polymers known as PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) from waste materials from agricultural processing. The carbon "building blocks" for assembling the polymer chain would thus be drawn directly from one of the gases that make up the atmosphere and which today is dangerously approaching 410 ppm (parts per million). Not that this could in any way contribute to reducing greenhouse gas levels, but it would nonetheless help to mitigate and reduce the emissions and environmental impact of industrial bioplastic production.

The other raw materials used in the process are those defined as second and third generation: sugar beet and sugarcane molasses, fruit and potato waste, carbon sources in general, glycerol and used frying oil — which we also recover at home through separate waste collection. Carbon, therefore, not derived from food crops and in any case "stored" during the growth of the various plant crops. "We are particularly proud to give concrete form to a dream of humanity — capturing CO2 from the atmosphere to produce innovative materials such as our Pha biopolymer," said Marco Astorri, chairman and chief executive of Bio-on Spa, in a statement. "We are ready to take on this new challenge, which will further expand our customer base in the coming years, consolidating Italy's leading position in the production of high-quality biopolymers worldwide."

Solar energy and hydrogen to produce bioplastic

What makes the process at the plant located in Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna, even more interesting is the fact that the electrical energy used will be generated by photovoltaic systems that, in addition to directly powering production, will supply energy to be stored in the form of hydrogen for night-time operation through the use of fuel cells. The hydrogen will be produced from solar energy, stored until it is needed, and then converted back into electrical energy to power the plant when the solar panels are not working — at night or during periods of low sunlight. This makes the entire industrial process even more sustainable. An absolute vanguard, one that places us as a country among the leaders in the bioeconomy sector.