Motivation: Currently, the market size for
European coffee capsules is approximately 27 billion € and made almost 50% of
the European household currently have coffee capsule machine at home. Nespresso
being the largest market share accounts 30% of the market size. Research shows
that although recycling efforts have been made, only 30% of Nespresso coffee
capsules ended up being recycled, with the rest of them going into landfills.
These coffee capsules are generally made up of plastic and aluminium, which must
be separated in order to be recycled effectively. The problem arises when these
materials are being stockpiled in landfills, where they generate methane gas,
the second highest gas that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Aside from
that, the CBAM Agreement stated that they are taxing incrementally the price of
all products made out of Aluminium in Europe starting from 2026, thus
potentially increasing the price of these capsules. The afro-mentioned problems
call the need to change the materials of these capsules into a 100%
biodegradable one, a concept that involves selecting a biodegradable material
that can withstand the pressure and temperature of water inside the coffee
capsule machine, while retaining the quality and shelf-life of the coffee for a
certain period of time when they are stored.
Bio-based
plastics offer a viable alternative, boasting comparable structural, chemical,
and physical properties to their petroleum-derived counterparts. For decades,
bioplastics derived from edible crops have been in use. Additionally,
photosynthetic algae exhibit impressive carbon fixation capabilities, yielding
sugars suitable for bacterial fermentation and subsequent bioplastic
production. Algae biomass can also be blended with traditional plastics to
reduce reliance on petroleum sources. Certain algae species are known to
accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), which can be extracted for bioplastic
manufacturing. This leads to our research proposition and investigation, where
we will investigate the different types of algae that we can turn into
bioplastics and ultimately investigate on two different solutions with 1 goal
in mind which is to make them 100% biodegradable; melting coffee capsules and
non-melting coffee capsules. The summary of research contents can be seen
below in the attached file (docx file).
Some reference papers are also attached