The BIONEXGEN project, with which the University of Oviedo collaborates, aims at finding new biocatalysts that will allow the industry to reduce its CO2 emissions and generate less toxic waste
The University of Oviedo collaborates with other 16 international partners in a European project aimed at the development of new biocatalysts that will allow for a reduction in the emission of the gases that create the Greenhouse Effect, less toxic waste and energy saving in industrial processes.
Scientists from the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Spain, along with cutting-edge enterprises from the chemical sector, are meeting today and tomorrow in Oviedo to advance the BIONEXGEN program, framed in what is known as "clean chemistry". The project is funded by the European Union with 8 million euros throughout three years (January 2011 – 2014).
Scientists and researchers from the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Spain participate in the European project, funded with 8 million euros
Led in Asturias by the Bioorganic research team of the University of Oviedo, the project is focused on the development of new biocatalysts to be used in industrial processes. The employment of enzymatic catalysts, benign with the environment, presents a series of advantages in terms of energy efficiency and the reduction of waste products. The goal is to develop clean forms of biocatalysis. In order to do so, researchers are working on the design and optimization of the enzymes to be used in synthetic chemistry, and in the development of modified microorganisms that are able to resist heat, pressure or a low pH.
The research group of the 17 universities and enterprises is holding a meeting this week in Oviedo, organized by the Bioorganic research group, in order to share their results. The coordination of the project falls on the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), led by Professor Nicholas J. Turner. Moreover, other public universities are part of the group, such as the University of Oviedo, the University of Stuttgart (Germany), the Technical University of Denmark, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the University of Groningen (Holland), the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (Germany), the Austrian Center of Industrial Biotechnology, the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm (Sweden), the Technological University of Slovakia, the University College of London (United Kingdom), and renowned enterprises from the chemical and biochemical sectors, such as CLEA Technologies (Holland), Entrechem (Spain), GALAB Technologies (Germany), Lentikats Biotechnologies (Czech Republic), BASF (Germany) and Chemistry Innovations (United Kingdom).
