Debut Biotech Partners with Battelle Team to Transform Plastic Waste into High-Value Resources under DARPA's ReSource Program

SAN DIEGO, July 20, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, Debut Biotech, a cell-free biomanufacturing platform, announced that it has entered into a partnership with Battelle, the world's largest non-for profit (501(c)3) independent private R&D organization, to transform energy-dense plastic waste into useful materials as part of DARPA's ReSource Program. Debut Biotech will specifically focus on optimization of innovative polymer degrading enzymes, biological chassis systems, and techniques to generate high-value materials on-demand that have applications across industries.

Today, traditional military practice is to transport or burn waste, including food packaging and man-made waste. Seeking a more sustainable option for military practice, DARPA's ReSource program called for a portable, self-contained system to convert energy-dense waste into useful materials. As a part of the project, Battelle started to develop a prototype system that uses approximately the same energy as a household dishwasher and requires minimal human intervention.

When deciding which materials to focus on, Battelle selected two of the most common plastics ? polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate, which are commonly found in items like milk jugs, water bottles, food trays and other food packaging. In the US alone, over 14.5 million tons of plastic waste each year contain these plastics. "Only a small percentage of them, however, is recycled and does not end up in landfills. Creating new technologies that allow for energy efficient degradation and creation of value added chemicals is a huge leap to reduce the environmental impacts", said Kate Kucharzyk, Senior Research Scientist and Plastics Circular Economy technical lead for Battelle.

"When we started to work on building this prototype, we were very excited to create something that simultaneously addresses waste in our world and supports the safety and efficacy of the brave men and women of the US military in the field," said Jake Lilly, Principal Investigator at Battelle. "As part of this work, we see Debut Biotech as an invaluable partner in transforming low value materials into high-value chemicals on-demand. In this case, we're transforming plastic and other waste materials into lubricants to aid warfighter needs in the field."

Debut Biotech's approach to innovation is based on a cell-free technology to biomanufacturing that overcomes the limitations of traditional methods, which dramatically reduces the need for space, water, and expensive inputs. The approach leverages natural enzymes to produce valuable materials across all major industries, including food, agricultural chemicals, cosmetics, beverages, health and wellness, additives, and dyes.

"With our cell-free method, we're able to turn common materials and feedstocks ? in this case, plastics and other waste materials ? into high value outputs with a fraction of the resources," said Joshua Britton, CEO of Debut Biotech. "Our partnership with Battelle, and applying these methods to DARPA's ReSource program, is only one of a myriad of applications for our approach. We're thrilled to bring this technology into the field and develop further innovations across industries."

To learn more about Debut Biotech, and their cell-free approach to biomanufacturing, visit http://www.debutbiotech.com.

About Debut Biotech

Debut Biotech is dedicated to unlocking natural products through sustainable biomanufacturing. Our unique cell-free platform harnesses natural enzymes to overcome the limitations of cell-based manufacturing and provides access to previously unobtainable products. We truly believe that biomanufacturing will be how materials and ingredients are created in the future and are committed to leading the revolution.

About Battelle

Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit http://www.battelle.org.

About DARPA ReSource

Military logistic support has a large human cost in contested environments with no ability to create valuable materials when and where needed. DARPA's ReSource program aims to revolutionize how the military procures critical supplies on the battlefield by engineering self-contained, integrated systems that rapidly produce large quantities of supplies from feedstock collected on-site.

Media Contact

Heather Stafford, Jones-Dilworth, Inc., 443-848-8617, [email protected]

SOURCE Debut Biotech