Almería, (EFE).- Agarene is the commercial name with which the ‘Beyond Seeds’ group has baptized agarose acetate, a bioplastic that can be used in a liquid or solid state, in combination with other chemical or natural limitation in its raw materials and totally recyclable for the seed of the future.
Agarose acetate, named for its similarity to the procedure for obtaining cellulose acetate, is a “totally organic plastic that does not have any non-organic component and also does not come from food products, so it does not exert any pressure on markets that may affect the final consumer”.
This was stated in a statement to EFE by the researcher José Ángel Moro, head of the Agarene project and who is now working on improving this product, which “has a good capacity for resistance and mechanical traction, which means that it has a very interesting use for packaging ”.
“We are also focusing on agricultural uses, since there is a fairly important market niche there. In current agricultural production systems there is no type of bioplastic that can be adapted to the needs of the farmer”, he adds.
He specifies that due to the “versatility” that being able to use it in a liquid or solid state gives, it could be used as a transport for treatments, plant extracts, or as a covering plastic, etc.
five year investigations
“We are evaluating the option of including it in plant substrates to improve water retention,” he adds.
Among its advantages compared to a traditional plastic is that “it does not depend on any fossil matter”. “We do not have a limitation regarding the volume of raw material, since we work with organic matter. And another advantage is that it is recyclable and compostable, something that conventional plastics do not have”, he emphasizes.
The general director of ‘Beyond Seeds’, Francisco Bermúdez, affirms that the Agarene is the “result of the investigations that we have been carrying out during the last five years, in which we have investigated more than 50 plant species”.
The group from Almería focuses specifically on seeds. “Our first criterion was to carry out a ‘screening’ to look for molecules that could be of interest in combating colon cancer, in collaboration with the Center for Biomedical Research in Granada. Our slogan is to go beyond what is there ”, he maintains.
This led them to work on the proteins, fats, minerals and polysaccharides of the seeds. “Within this research, we found polysaccharides that are of high interest in order to convert them into bioplastics.”
A discovery that was added to other works in which red algae agar was used. And the combination of both allowed the possibility of developing this “bioplastic based on algae and seed polysaccharides”.
“The algae, along with the seeds, but mainly the algae, do not compete for food. We have entire oceans in which these algae can be cultivated without causing an environmental impact and have an alternative to the plastics we use today”, says Bermúdez.
Beyond seeds
But this is not the only activity of this business group from Almeria made up of biotechnology companies that “develop all their research activities around the seed, visualizing it beyond what is traditionally known”.
“The research of these companies in this biotechnology group is based on evaluating and developing technologies that allow, for example, the development of genetic improvement software to manage the information and data that can be derived from the plant,” he reveals.
It also goes through “state-of-the-art technologies and protocols to help multinational seed companies to speed up genetic improvement processes. For us, biotechnology around the seed is also the search for molecules that can be useful not only for the development of stimulants in the seeds, but also for human health”.
“In fact, one of the companies, in collaboration with the University of Granada, develops specific research against cancer from molecules that we extract from seeds (…) and today we have four patents in which one of them is in technical development, with funding from the Carlos III Health Institute”, reveals the businessman.
The group also works with nanotechnology and microbiology. “This group of biotechnology companies also have a very pronounced social responsibility, since they are part of the Cellbitec Foundation, which is in charge of promoting science, culture and the fight against cancer”, he concludes. EFE