MARKET
Bioeconomy
World chemical sales in 2018 were valued about 3347 Euro billions (https://cefic.org/). Many of these chemical compounds can be made biologically (1) by engineering the cellular metabolism, (2) through the design of cell factories and (3) by bioconversion. Industry 5.0 and industrial biotechnologies respond to the urgency of mitigating the environmental impact and the call for sustainable products and processes.
Bio-based building blocks and polymers produce lower environmental impacts in comparison to their fossil references for the impact categories of climate change and non-renewable energy consumption.
In 2016 the bioeconomy sector of EU-28 worth 2,2 Trillion €, with 18,6 M employees and it represent the 9% of the all sector of the economy.
Bioplastics
Galatea Biotech is focused on Bioplastic production. The bioplastic production is estimated to grow by 20% in the next five years. The bioplastic are all the plastics that are not coming from fossil resources and are biodegradable either.
One of the best bioplastic is the polylactic acid (PLA), because it is a really virtuos polymer: it can derive from biobased resources and it is completely biodegradable.
PLA is a well known plastic since the mid of the last century, and it is a very interesting polymer thanks to its peculiar charateristics like the fully biodegradability and its fully compostability in industrial conditions.
PLA when degrade shows zero environmental impact.
It has characteristics similar to traditional plastic like polyethylene, polycarbonate and polystyrene.