In Spain, the Valencian agricultural sector generates around 800,000 tons of plant waste, such as rice straw and citrus pruning waste every year. Currently, the methods for recovering this biomass are costly, as they require commercial enzymes that can represent up to 40% of the cost of the process, which limits its industrial viability. To solve this problem, AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is leading the BIOVALSA project, an initiative that seeks to develop innovative processes for manufacturing sustainable bioplastics from agricultural waste and pruning residues. The project is funded by IVACE+i Innovation and receives financial support from the European Union through the ERDF Comunitat Valenciana programme for the 2021-2027 period.
