pellislab - TURBOPACK

Thorough Upcycling of Rice waste biomass into BiOactive PACKaging via chemoenzymatic processes

The TURBOPACK (Thorough Upcycling of Rice waste biomass into BiOactive PACKaging via chemoenzymatic processes) project is focusing on the valorization of the most challenging components of rice husk and straw, i.e. lignin and silica, whose presence hampers a full exploitation of cellulose and hemicellulose, for which efficient conversion strategies into valuable compounds have already been developed.

Lignin and silica will be isolated, characterized and subjected to specific treatments needed for the project implementation. Silica will be transformed into mesoporous nanoparticles for enzyme immobilization (e.g. laccases, transferases, lipases). Once supported, laccases will be used for lignin oxidative depolymerization generating lignin-derived low molecular weight species (LIMO) together with a higher molecular weight oxidized lignin. LIMO will be employed as starting material for the preparation of bioactive molecules by transferases, while the residual oxidized lignin will be fractionated into a lower (MCLO) and higher (HMWL) cut. MCLO will be utilized for the lipase-mediated synthesis of lignin-containing polymers, while HMWL transformed into lignin nanoparticles (LNPs). The three streams will be finally synergistically assembled to develop innovative nanocomposite materials where the lignin-based polymer backbone is coupled with LNPs previously loaded with the bioactive of interest (e.g. antioxidant, antimicrobial activity).

This project, brings together three Italian research gropus led by talented young researchers with a background in biomass valorization, biocatalysis and polymer chemistry that merge their complementary skills to develop a fully biobased, stimuli-responsive functional polymeric system by de-assembling the complicated structure of the starting biomass and re-combining it in a highly controlled and selective manner.

The TURBOPACK consortium