Transition to a circular economy requires the use of renewable feedstocks like agro residues, and prevention of environmental emission of persistent materials demands biodegradable alternatives. This project will develop novel reversible modification methods, using safe bio-based modifying agents derived from agro-residues. This will generate products for applications like water treatment and home & personal care products, with the required biodegradability¸ preventing environmental persistence.

The overall aim of this project and the consortium partners will be to generate generic knowledge on how to use agro side-stream derived reactants to reversibly modify polysaccharides into functional materials for e.g. home and personal care applications. By making the modification reversible, it will allow for combining high functionality (e.g. thickening effect, adhesion to textile fibres or hair, etc.) with required biodegradability of the material after use, alleviating the negative effects of the accumulation of the non-biodegradable compounds they replace in the environment. Furthermore, by using biorenewable feedstocks this project will contribute to the continuing development of the circular economy.

This project contributes to MMIP A3 “Reuse of organic side streams and -residues”, by creating new functionalized bio-polymers from agricultural waste streams, such as glucose syrups or grey starches (total use concept). The cascading approach will create added value for residual polysaccharides, as well as other carbohydrate rich side streams that will be used to create the (reversible) reactants. The final products will be fully biobased, thereby contributing to the de-fossilization of the (chemical) industry, and fitting to the total use concept.

In year one the focus will be on a) obtaining a proof of concept (PoC) for the reversible anionic modification of polysaccharides, and b) obtaining a proof of concept (PoC) for the reversible cationic modification of polysaccharides. Next to the basic PoC, also the functionality of the modified materials will be investigated.
In year two the aforementioned activities will continue in an iterative fashion. Furthermore, the reversibly modified polysaccharides will be investigated for their biodegradability and potential toxicity at the end of life. Feedback from application testing and biodeg./tox. testing will be used to create a structure-performance matrix, which will be used as a tool to further improve the performance of the modified polysaccharides
At M24 a go/no-go decision will be made by the consortium, on whether to continue into the third and final year of the project.