2.-0 LCA consultants is a partner in the Nano3Bio project in charge of the Life Cycle Assessment of the resulting chitosans versus existing technology.
The Nano3Bio project aims to develop biotechnological production systems for nanoformulated chitosans. Chitosans, chitin-derived polysaccharides, vary in: (1) degree of polymerisation (DP); (2) degree of acetylation (DA) and (3) patterns of acetylation (PA).
Chitosans are among the most versatile and most promising biopolymers and have excellent physico-chemical and material properties as well as a wide range of biological functionalities. Their economic potential is far from being exploited due to: (1) problems with reproducibility of biological activities as today’s chitosans are rather poorly defined mixtures and (2) the threat of allergen contamination from their typical animal origin.
The Nano3Bio project will overcome the hurdles towards market entry and market penetration by producing in vitro and in vivo defined polymers with controlled, tailor-made DP, DA and PA.
Applications:
The first life cycle assessment of chitosan production based on data from two real producers located in India and Europe in presented in an article: 'Life cycle assessment of chitosan production in India and Europe'.
