The SATISPHACTION project was awarded in 2025 with a budget of €3.7 million under the highly competitive EIC PATHFINDER CHALLENGE call “Nature inspired alternatives for food packaging and films for agriculture”, funded by the European Commission through the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).
Conventional plastics represent one of today’s main environmental challenges due to their dependence on fossil resources and the problems arising from microplastic pollution in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In this context, PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) are emerging as a promising alternative, as they are biopolymers naturally produced by bacteria, suitable for food contact and fully biodegradable, even in the marine environment. However, their high production cost and limited processability restrict their widespread use.
However, their market presence is hindered by the high cost and final properties of the polymers obtained through current production methods. The difficulty of obtaining plastics for food packaging solely from PHA means that they ultimately have to be combined with additives or other bioplastics such as PLA, PBS or PBAT, losing their biodegradability and limiting subsequent recycling.
To address these limitations, the SATISPHACTION project aims to develop innovative chemical and biotic recycling processes. The project will rely on the use of computational chemistry and AI to obtain PHA polymers with improved properties, leading to plastic formulations that are less dependent on additives and on combination with other polymers to meet processability requirements. In addition, the project will explore the integration of stable thermostable enzymes for accelerated self-degradation. These developments will be validated through the production of three food packaging prototypes: thermoformed trays, flexible heat-sealable pouches and bioadhesives for labels. This new upcycling approach will deliver economically viable and fully biodegradable PHA plastic packaging.
SATISPHACTION is a 4-year project coordinated by AINIA, involving 9 partners from 5 different European countries: France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal and Spain. The consortium combines the scientific and technical excellence provided by universities and R&D centres (AINIA, the Margarita Salas Biological Research Centre CIB-CSIC, NOVA id, King’s College London and NAITEC) with the support of innovative companies in the plastics sector (Natureplast and Polykey), sustainability certification experts (Normec OWS) and representatives of the packaging industry (Packaging Cluster).
The capabilities to be developed in the project include:
- Chemical and enzymatic upcycling of biopolymers
- Recycling of biopolymers using living cells
- Strain engineering for microbial fermentation
- AI-assisted polymer discovery
- Organocatalytic polymerisation of PHAs
- Formulations with thermostable enzymes for accelerated biodegradation
- Formulation of bioadhesives and bioplastics
- Application of the ‘Safe and Sustainable by Design’ methodology to food packaging
- Biodegradability analysis in simulated ecosystems (marine environment, freshwater and soil)
- Life cycle analysis from environmental, economic and social perspectives
- Food regulatory compliance
The project, which started on 1 October 2025, will have an impact on the bioplastics production sector through circular and cost-effective alternatives to fossil carbon plastics, reducing dependence on non-renewable sources and strengthening the competitiveness of European industry. The results will contribute to reducing carbon emissions, preventing the generation of microplastics and avoiding the presence of chemicals of concern, such as endocrine disruptors, in the food chain.
