The aim of the Project AUTSORT – Automatic Textile Sorting is to investigate a sorting system of textile materials applying Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR), in order to facilitate the recycling process of post-consumer textile residues. The project contributes to promote a more circular and sustainable textile industry, improving the recycling of post-consumer textile residues, according to the European directive from 2018 (Directive (EU) 2018/851).
For its future implementation, this system should be developed from a perspective of an industrial scale-up. That is to say, the developed system should be modular for a subsequent application on industrial sorting machinery, both for existing and new designs.
To achieve that, it is necessary to develop powerful mathematical models to treat NIR spectres, allowing the classification of the textile fibres in different groups. Models will be developed based on multivariate statistical analysis and convolutional neural network.
The project aims at the development of bioplastics from renewable resources (mainly agro-food waste), as well as the establishment of a value chain that includes the study of its subsequent treatment (methanization and composting) from a point of view of circular economy.
Within the framework of the Bioplast project, according to Action 3 “Evaluation of biodegradable plastics and current market trends” and within it, according to activity 3.1 “Evaluation and study of the different waste streams of the agricultural sector for the manufacture of PHAs” a report (deliverable 3.1.1) was prepared including the data collected by the partners of the project in the Spanish part of the POCTEFA zone, about the different agricultural and domestic waste with potential use as raw material in the production of bioplastics. Data on the type of waste, total volume produced, spatial distribution (map of waste sites) and chemical characteristics were included.
On the other hand, last July, 2018, the DBA center took part in the consortium meeting that took place in Girona (Spain) where the activities of the project were monitored, among them the analysis of the information compiled by the project partners related to activity 3.1. As a result, it was decided that the most suitable residues to be used in the production of PHAs were those from the production of sunflower oil and the residues of wheat and barley straw.
https://www.bioplast-poctefa.eu/fr
Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)
Dissemination in Colombia: On November 7th 2018, a conference on the Bioplast project was held at the University of Tolima (Ibagué, Colombia). The talk was conducted by Edinson Yara Varón and was addressed to students (undergraduate and doctoral) and professors who are part of the Research Group in Chemistry of Natural Products of the University of Tolima (GIPRONUT). In the talk, the project was presented and the results obtained so far on activity 3.1 in relation to agricultural by-products with potential to be used in the production of PHAs were shown.
Videoconference: Within the work of dissemination of the activities carried out by the Center DBA-UdL, a videoconference addressed to professors and researchers of the degree in environmental engineering and the Institute of Microbiology and Agroindustrial Biotechnology of the Catholic University of Manizales (Colombia). The Videoconference was conducted by Mercè Balcells on 8th November 2018 and its main objective was to publicise the activities carried out by the DBA-UdL Centre, including the development of the Bioplast project and its implications within the sphere of the circular economy.
Conference about ensilage plastics: the past May 28th of 2021 took place in Sort a technical conference about BIOPLAST project, where DBA were involved by making a video about explaining the situation of the ensilage plastics in mountain regions.
