Current status

The pilot line can produce 5kg of PHA for 1000L in one week. However, in our process, two steps slow down the production which impacts the final quantities.

The pilot line will produce 20kg/day of flax or hemp fibers with microsize of diameter and length. The fiber will be degummed to reach efficient bundles dividing and modified to obtain good adhesion between fibers and matrices.

Challenge

Multiply by 3 the current capacity: pilot line 20 kg/day

Challenge: to ensure good homogeneity of micro-fibers structure. To reach this, four combination of degumming and silanization are conducted to determine optimal bath composition and process conditions.

Further development

Increase our current capacity to have a sufficient sample size to send to companies.

Benefits for companies and SME’s

The pilot line will deliver amounts of PHA large enough for process and product development. The pilot line will be available for the production of molecules by fermentation. Scientific competence, characterisation methods and quality control tools will support the tailoring and optimisation work.

The pilot line will offer natural microfibers flax or hemp as componet of any biocomposites. The fibers can show high adhesion to any polymer matrices and can be functionalised by different method to meet final requirements. there is lack of such raw materials on the markets. Small fiber dimention allows to produce precise composite elements

Pilot line 3: application example

Skeleton technologies – Ultracapacitor cells