The main idea of the project relies on cellulose-based films featuring passive water management by microfluidic structures. The base material is biobased, biodegradable, and broadly available. Unfortunately, the mechanical properties (tear resistance, stretchability, penetration stability) are not sufficient for agricultural applications. Moreover, in horticulture, cellulose is prone to the formation of fungi and mould. These drawbacks will be overcome by combination of different cellulose types like plant-based cellulose, regenerated cellulose and bacterial cellulose. Additional coatings will be applied that partly immerse the film. Such coatings will be modified in view of its surface structure to achieve water management or avoid mold formation in horticulture. This will be done using imprint technologies in combination with coating technologies. Such nano- or micro-imprint technologies are known to be used for high-end applications like generating lab-on-chip devices for medical applications. A new approach will be investigated using electron beam curing technologies to validate such structuring method in low-cost applications like mulch films utilizing high-speed capabilities of e-beam curing processes. The water management will be nature-inspired mimic e.g. leaf structures. Using atmospheric plasma technologies hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity of structures will be optimized by changes in surface chemistry. Tuning the surface properties will also have an important impact on biodegradability. The goal is to develop a toolbox that allows to use the novel mulch materials for a variety of applications in agriculture and horticulture and at different climate conditions. Development targets TRL 5 by validating at real field tests. Nevertheless, all different technological building blocks will be scaleable to roll-to-roll production, ensuring high productivity and allowing low-cost products in the future.

Plastic waste poses an important environmental problem in Europe and worldwide, especially from leakage to natural habitats. Of more than 29 Mt of plastic post-consumer waste collected in the EU in 2020, the average recycling rate of packaging waste was less than 40%. Packaging is the largest end-use market of plastic demand (40.5%). Multilayer packaging (e.g. paper/plastic composites), widely used in the food and beverage industry, applies mostly polyethylene (PE) film as plastic coating. In the agriculture sector, plastics are used to enhance crop yield, save water and agrochemicals but bear the risk of being lost during operation. Agricultural plastics market represents 3.2% of the plastic demand and the 50% increase in global food supplies expected by 2050 will lead to a substantially higher demand of plastics for mulch films (today mainly made of PE). REBIOLUTION aims to design and synthetize novel fully bio-based and biodegradable polyester blends based on 2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and other bio-based monomers fit for specific product-market applications selected in this project for their widespread use and negative impact on the environment: (1) plastic coating for food packaging (e.g. for frozen/chilled food or ready meal trays) and (2) mulch films for agricultural applications. Well-defined properties will be established by carefully tuning the polymer blends for each application in order to boost the sustainability performance (non-toxic substances used, reduced non-renewable energy consumption, recyclable and at the same time home compostable and biodegradable in soil and aquatic environments) and improved functionality while ensuring product and processes safety. REBIOLUTION is committed to remove barriers to market penetration by providing a drop-in bio-based polymer blend replacement that fosters a seamless transition for the downstream value-chain, avoiding additional investment in the processing industrial lines and extra-costs for consumers

To succeed in the ambitious objective of achieving a climate-neutral EU by 2050 the nano-enabled bio-based materials sector shall respond to some specific risks in the short term. BIONANOPOLYS will address the following risks and challenges in order to strengthen the circularity of nano-enabled bio-based materials in the economy: › Acceptance of new technology by the market. › Seasonal sustainability of feedstocks. › Price competition and market. › Other risks: The existing legislation is costly in particular for small companies. For example, nano-ecotoxicology related to the use of nano-enabled materials in industry and/or food contact. Considering these challenges, BIONONAPOLYS Open Innovation Test Bed will improve technologies, processes, considering different feedstock. BIONANOPOLYS offers: › PILOT LINES: Cutting edge technology upgraded at TRL 7 with the objetive to produce nanoenabled biobased materials with multifunctional properties to be dispersed in cellulose and polymeric matrices assuring the best dispersion and the robustness of the final properties. Developed materials will be validated in application such as packaging, cosmetic, medical, foam, nonwoven, coating, 3D printing, textiles and cellulose-paper. › PRIMARY RAW MATERIALS FROM DIFFERENT FEEDSTOCKS: BIONANOPOLYS will use the most relevant feedstock in Europe to obtain bio-based nano-enabled composites. › HIGH VOLUME APPLICATIONS: BIONANOPOLYS offer solutions for more than the 50% of the applications that are currently using bio-based materials. › COMPLEMENTARY SERVICES: BIONANOPOLYS will offer to the industry a wide variety of services for the market uptake of a new bio-based nano-enabled products, such as safety protocols for bio-based nano-enabled materials, training for staff specialization, standardisation, business modelling, access to follow-on finance or IPR protection as a crucial mean of ensuring the capitalisation on the investments made by our stakeholders and other investors.