BioBased and biodegradable replacement for polyacrylic acid. (GREENER)

The GREENER project aims to contribute to a reduction in the microplastics pollution, which is currently a growing environmental problem. On the one hand, polymers will be developed with the same properties as the widespread, water-soluble polymer polyacrylic acid, but with the advantage that they will be both biobased and biodegradable, two characteristics that are not met by polyacrylic acid. Biobased raw materials to enable polymer synthesis are an important alternative for the increasingly scarce fossil raw materials, which are also associated with harmful impacts on the environment, for example their contribution to the greenhouse effect. The GREENER project starts from natural resources as alternative raw materials for polymers which have similar properties as compared to polyacrylic acid. It is not sufficient to only develop a new platform of bio-based polymers, but also the era of polymers after usage should be considered. Nowadays, polymers like polyacrylic acid are too often incinerated after use or dumped in landfills or oceans, where they contribute to the microplastics pollution since polyacrylic acid is not biodegradable. The alternative polymers that will be developed in this project are based on polyaspartic acid and will have as major advantage that they are biodegradable and will only release non-toxic natural products upon degradation.

The purpose of this project is to valorize the newly developed polymer platform replacing polyacrylic acid in a plethora of applications, ranging from superabsorbent materials in healthcare, to biomedical materials (e.g. wound dressings, cell carriers, scaffolds, etc.), cosmetics and coating applications.