VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing a project called PlastBug, a mobile container unit to remove plastic waste from ocean areas, to create a safe living environment.
The aim of the project is to develop a small, container-based factory that can be placed in an area where centralised plastic waste collecting or recycling is not possible or feasible.
The factory unit would get most of its energy needed for the process from solar energy and wind power and the container can be located on a beach or ship.
Researchers in the PlastBug project have been searching for microbes that display the capability to degrade various plastics such as PE, PP, PS and PET, developing methods for the pretreatment of plastics.
Currently, researchers are using a three-stage screening method to screen microbes from different sources.
A complete process is being engineered around the fermenting unit containing microbes, a small plant in which plastic is modified from waste to products.
The aim is that the pilot unit will operate on the Baltic Sea in 2021, however funding still needs to be secured for the realisation of this plan.
If the process can be made to work effectively enough, the PlastBug units can progress to commercial production and operate in different locations around the world.
VTT
In VTT’s PlastBug projects, microbes are being screened through a three-stage process.
"Our idea is to design a mobile container where microbes degrade plastic waste to valuable products like fuels or chemicals," said Kari Koivuranta, Principal Scientist at VTT.
"Some microbes have already passed through the first two stages of the screening. In the third stage, we will confirm are they capable to consume and digest plastic. In the next step, if plastic degrading microbes will be found, we will improve the ability of the most effective microbes to digest plastic, and we will develop plastic pre-treatment methods further to ease the work of the microbes.”