NET VALUE; HOW GAIA IS WORKING ON SAVING THE OCEANS, ONE FISHING NET AT THE TIME

- A short update with Konrad Rosén, R&D Manager GAIA BioMaterials

One of GAIA’s most exciting R&D projects is the development of biodegradable fishing nets. Fishing nets rank among the most prioritized applications to find a sustainable solution for, with an estimated 640000 tons of fishing gear lost or dumped in the oceans annually, with “ghost fishing” causing tremendous harm to marine life.

Together with its partners in the Catchgreen project, GAIA has received funding from FCDO and UK Aid through the Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution Programme (SMEP) The ambition is to present a commercially viable offer by 2025.

Konrad Rosén, R&D Manager GAIA BioMaterials (Photo: GAIA)

Question (Q): What makes the development of a compostable and biodegradable fishing net for the fishing industry so challenging?

Konrad Rosén (KR): I would say finding the right balance. You need to optimize the mechanical properties of the net, but you also need to ensure that it will biodegrade quickly if lost during fishing. Furthermore, it needs to be as effective as those made from PE and Nylon. If not, the numbers won’t add up for the fishermen.

Q: The Catchgreen project has been running for a while now, can you tell us something about the progress you have made so far?

KR: The project's first phase has been about developing a biodegradable material that offers similar mechanical properties and making sure that it can be processed in existing machines. We opted for PBS as the base material since PBS displays properties similar to PP, which is a good starting point for the application.

After that, work pivoted towards the properties needed – flexibility, salt corrosion resistance, UV-light resistance, etc. It’s like playing three-dimensional chess: Each change in the recipe requires you to consider the trade-offs from several different aspects simultaneously, while constantly checking for unexpected consequences.

With the successful completion of the semifinished goods extrusion test, the second phase is now underway, with net production and field tests scheduled in South Africa during the summer. After that, we will adjust the recipe, with new extrusion tests. We expect to initiate a new, larger production and field test during the fall of this year.

(Photo: Pixabay)

Q: And after that, you’re ready to offer the material commercially?

KR: No, lots of steps still remain. The full-scale production test and field test will give us new information and insights that we need to incorporate into the final material. We don’t even know whether the nets will work as intended.

We also need to ensure that the material biodegrades under the conditions they are to operate in. We recently started a long-term test for the material's biodegradability in ocean conditions. If it doesn’t biodegrade as planned, we don’t have a credible solution.

There is also the development of new materials and additives. We estimate that within the next few years, new materials and additives will be available that will allow us to replicate the mechanical properties of Nylon. You’d be forgiven for thinking that we should wait until then, but the problems facing marine life are here and now, and any delay risks devastating the oceans as we know them. Given this, developing new materials to remedy the problem must be allowed to be a continuous process.

For more information on the Catchgreen project, please click here.

Gaia BioMaterials is a Swedish company that develops and produces biodegradable biomaterials. With our patented material, Biodolomer®, we are revolutionizing the plastics industry and contributing to a cleaner and healthier planet. Biodolomer® is inspired by a half-a-billion-year-old packaging design from Mother Earth – the egg. Read more.

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Published date

12 juli 2023