Paques Biomaterials Creates Truly Biodegradable Bioplastic from Wastewater

The first demo factory was opened last May in Dordrecht. A world first. It is the first factory to produce this type of truly biodegradable plastic. So, not the biodegradable plastic that can only be broken down after six months at 65 degrees in an industrial composting facility, which some other companies profit from. Nor is it the bioplastic made from trees or biomass, which sometimes necessitates using food crops.

The benefits, without the drawbacks

For Director Joost F. Paques of Paques Biomaterials, the factory was a milestone after more than ten years of research, accelerating, and scaling up chemical processes, in collaboration with institutions including TU Delft. Since 2010, both have been working on producing PHA (short for polyhydroxyalkanoate) from bacteria. PHA is a natural polymer, a building block for plastic, in powdered form. “It’s not plastic, but an alternative to plastic. That’s why we call it bioplastic. It is just as lightweight, flexible, strong, and versatile as conventional plastic, but does not have the drawbacks of fossil plastic. That is made from oil, and we need to move away from that,” he says. The biggest advantage is the biodegradability. The bacteria that produce PHA also consume it in nature. “It is super biodegradable and breaks down under all conditions in nature. Whether in the soil, in the ocean, or in a composting facility. That is unique,” says Paques.

Bacterial fat
PHA is produced by bacteria that occur in nature. “Like humans, these bacteria consume organic material to store energy reserves in their bodies. If we humans eat too much, it gets stored in our fat to extract energy later. The same happens with bacteria, only they convert it into PHA, a kind of bacterial fat,” explains Paques. TU Delft discovered that it is possible to extract a large amount of PHA from these bacteria. The key is to provide these bacteria with a lot of food, such as the organic materials found in wastewater. For example, at a processor of sewage sludge, like HVC in Dordrecht. That is why the first demo factory was built there. However, it could also be the organic materials from wastewater treatment plants at a paper mill, a brewery, a candy factory, or a chemical plant, or from wastewater from a restaurant or supermarket.

Applications in agriculture and horticulture
The applications for naturally biodegradable bioplastics are numerous, but they must be sold. The company is working on establishing a supply chain. “It is particularly interesting in sectors where biodegradability is an advantage, such as in agriculture and horticulture,” says Paques. These sectors will face stricter EU regulations and will soon be prohibited from using plastics that leave microplastics in the soil. For instance, some types of fertilizer granules have a plastic coating. This will be banned starting in 2026, prompting producers to seek alternatives like PHA. Additionally, the stickers on fruit currently contain a plastic adhesive that will be banned and can be replaced with PHA. Paques Biomaterials is in discussions with various companies, such as Foamplant, which supplies fully biodegradable foam to horticulture. Or the company Maan Biobased Products, which sells hundreds of millions of plant pots annually that are currently difficult to remove from the ground. With PHA, that is no longer necessary. The company Basilisk wants to use the bioplastic in its self-healing concrete. The PHA will be converted by bacteria into limestone, which repairs cracks in the concrete and thus prevents corrosion.

Building factories
The company opened its first demo factory in May 2022 in collaboration with a consortium of water authorities and research institutions at HVC in Dordrecht. Costs: 4.5 million euros. There, the bacteria that produce the PHA polymers from sewage sludge are mainly cultivated. Currently, 25 kilograms of bioplastic are produced per day. Later this year, Paques Biomaterials aims to sell its first full-scale factory that extracts PHA from wastewater to customers. Additionally, the company plans to build what is called an extraction factory, which extracts PHA from the bacteria and produces bioplastic from it. For this purpose, a demo factory is being built in Emmen, which will be operational next year. Subsequently, it plans to construct a commercial extraction factory on the same site, expected to be operational in 2026. This factory is projected to cost tens of millions of euros and can produce 6,000 tons of bioplastic per year. For all these factories, the company is holding various rounds of investment. “The technology is ready and proven. That’s why we want to start scaling up now. That is the challenge,” says Paques.

Going forward independently
The partner company Paques—from which Paques Biomaterials originated—has been building and supplying wastewater treatment installations since the 1980s. Biogas is extracted from these installations, among other products. However, polymers like PHA are a much higher quality product. Cultivating the bacteria that produce PHA can work well at the treatment plants, but the chemical process to extract the PHA from the bacteria and create usable plastics is best done elsewhere. That process lies further from the core activities of the family business. Thus, when Paques was sold to the German company Skion in 2020, it was decided that the polymer branch would continue independently as Paques Biomaterials.

Green Chemistry Accelerator
In recent months, Paques Biomaterials has received help and guidance from the Green Chemistry Accelerator, an acceleration program from the Green Chemistry New Economy (GCNE) platform, Invest-NL, and the Regional Development Agencies (ROMs) in the Netherlands. Experts assist startups in green chemistry within this program with a tailor-made plan to achieve their main goals within one hundred days. This customized support also makes it possible to accelerate funding for pilots and demo factories. The five selected startups will conclude the program on February 16 with a meeting at Change Inc. in Amsterdam. In total, five startups have been selected for the program. Besides Paques Biomaterials, they include Relement, ETB Global, Susphos, and Torwash. All are promising game-changers for the greening of chemistry.

Network and focus
According to Paques, participation in the program provides his company with two benefits. “We come from water treatment technology, where we have a vast network, but chemical extraction is a different world for us. Through this program, we have also found a network in green chemistry,” he says. “Furthermore, accelerator means acceleration. In that respect, the program has helped us gain focus for faster progress in the company.”

This article previously appeared in Change Inc. as part of a campaign in collaboration with Green Chemistry, New Economy, editor André Oerlemans. Read the entire series on our website or at Change Inc.