Our success in the WEAVE - UNISONO competition financed by National Science Center | Faculty of Chemistry at the Gdańsk University of Technology

In the years 2024-2026, our Faculty will implement an international project entitled "Sustainable polyurethanes "from the cradle to the grave" using enzymes" co-financed by National Science Center. The project manager is Professor Janusz Datta, and the funding amount is 1 077 200 PLN.

The project was prepared at the Department of Polymer Technology with the participation of Paulina Parcheta-Szwindowska, Ph.D. and Ewa Głowińska, Ph.D. (main contractors in the project). Doctoral students and students will also be employed. The tasks will be implemented in a consortium with scientific units from the Czech Republic: the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague and the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (financing of foreign partners will be provided by the Czech agency GACR).

Project is divided into 4 main steps. According to the definition of ‘sustainable’ the project involves design novel types bio-based monomers, polyurethanes materials (as thermoplastics polyurethane elastomers TPUs and polyurethanes foams), their processing and recycling by using physical, chemical and biological methods. Investigation of the circulation of monomers of natural origin in a closed cycle, from the synthesis of intermediates to recycling of products, will enable a life cycle assessment (LCA). The expected results of the project implementation will provide information on the life cycle analysis of monomers of plant origin, their synthesis processes and the synthesis of polyurethane materials using them, as well as various methods of recycling polyurethane materials, which will allow to estimate the impact of sustainable PU on the environment.