Digitally-enabled acceleration of the full circularity of aromatic polymers – PLASTILOOP2.0

The PLASTILOOP2.0 industrial chair, coordinated by Prof. Sébastien Paul (UCCS / Centrale Lille, coordinator of the REALCAT platform (Equipex), brings together 4 academic laboratories (UCCS, BioEcoAgro, CRIStAL and E2P2L) and one industrialist (SOLVAY) around the issue of the use of aromatic polymers in the context of a circular economy.

The work of the chair will be based on the catalytic screening platform REALCAT (equipment of excellence for high-throughput research in chemical, biological or hybrid catalysis) financed within the framework of the French PIA (Plan Investissement d’Avenir) and located in Lille, France.

The scientific programme will be organised in 3 main work packages: package 1 will study the biocatalysed reconversion of aromatic polymers in order to reintroduce value into these wastes through the production of chemical synthons that can ultimately be used as a basis for the manufacture of new polymers. Work package n°2 will focus on transforming these synthons, monomer precursors, into molecules that can be directly used in the polymerisation processes already implemented by Solvay (drop-in strategy). In this work package n°2, the cycle will be completed by ensuring that the characteristics of these new monomers correspond to the specifications expected by the industrial end user. This experimental set will be accompanied by a final work package n°3 dedicated to the comparison of methodologies for analysing the environmental impact of the processes involved in the production of aromatic polymers, using innovative tools such as the institutional compass.

The main innovative strength of PLASTILOOP2.0 lies in the use of machine learning tools to understand and predict the chemical and biological catalytic systems developed. Indeed, in addition to developing new degradation and synthesis pathways using original catalysts, PLASTILOOP2.0's main task will be the implementation of prediction algorithms that allow the activity of these catalysts to be linked to the fundamental descriptors that characterise them. This approach will benefit from the unrivalled high-throughput screening capacity of the REALCAT platform, generating the quantity of data necessary for their learning, ultimately making it possible to considerably speed up the development of these catalysts compared with the more traditional approaches of pre-existing projects.

The PLASTILOOP2.0 chair, with a budget of €1.8 million, will last 4 years and will contribute to scientific progress with positive environmental and social impacts, as well as to the training of 7 young researchers (3 PhD students and 4 post-docs) in these breakthrough technologies.