Metagenomic discovery of marine microbial enzymes for thermoset resin composite recycling

Project partners: Sustainable Extricko & Scottish Association for Marine Science

Project focus area: Waste recycling

Thermoset resins, such as epoxy or unsaturated polyesters are widely used by industry due to their excellent adhesive properties, mechanical strength, chemical and heat resistance. Products include fiberglass boats, wind turbine blades, paints, coatings, electronics, electrical insulation, and adhesives. But, when thermoset resins have reached their End-of-Life (EoL) there are limited, if any, recycling options, and instead are disposed of in landfill or incinerated under controlled conditions that can lead to leaching or volatilisation of xenobiotics and heavy metals into the environment or atmosphere.

To address this, Sustainable Extricko have been developing pressolysis – a recycling solution – termed “Extricko” for thermoset composites. This technology currently operates at a lower carbon footprint than current methods for the recovery of thermoset resin monomers; however, further advances are critical to scale these technologies and further reduce the environmental impact of these technologies.

Thermoset resins are not considered to be biodegradable, but a small and growing body of knowledge suggests that they do undergo biodeterioration, opening the possibility to identifying microorganisms or their enzymes to assist with EoL recycling. In this project, the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and Sustainable Extricko will identify marine microorganisms and enzymes using metagenomic analysis of the microbial communities enriched by approximately 9 months of continuous cultivation with pressolysis-treated thermoset composites. This data will then be used for recombinant expression and enzymatic assays to assess the degradative capacity of these enzymes on different thermoset composites, with the overall goal is development of greater efficiencies in thermoset resin composite recycling.

For more information

For more information on this project, contact us, or view all Engineering Biology SPARK Award winners.

This project funding is part of the Engineering Biology Innovation Network, led by Innovate UK Business Connect in collaboration with Innovate UK and UKRI’s Technology Mission Fund. The network’s goal is to progress innovations, create a commercially focused community and foster new consortia to advance innovations towards commercial applications.