BIONEERING THE FUTURE
THE beworm PROJECT
Since 1950, humans have produced about 8.3 billion tons of plastic. Instead of recycling or reusing it, we thought it would be
a good idea to litter in the environment. Well, we all know where that's headed. But nature came up with its own solution:
In the last years research has documented over 90 different organisms, microorganisms and biomolecules that are able to break down long-chain polymers.
beworm uses these bioagents to develop a biotic/biocatalytic recycling process, that decomposes oil-based plastics like polyethylene and closes the gap in the material cycle. In our first experiments we worked with waxworms, but the real magic is done by microorganisms and enzymes in their digestive system. That's why we are working on the isolation and optimization of PE-cleaving bioagents, aiming to develop a scalable, efficient and ressource-saving process.
BUT HOW DOES IT WORK?
Polyethylen is a polymer composed of long hydrocarbon chains
The outcome of
the process are the monomers or building blocks of polyethylene
Microorganisms
like fungi and bacteria
produce enzymes that can break up these long chains
The enzymes act on polyethylene as their substrate and degrade the material
Those building blocks could be used for new petrochemical products and get back
into the cycle
GREAT! SO I CAN LITTER WHEREVER I WANT?
MILESTONES
2019
2020
2021
Big Goal
beworm wins
the Biomimetic Idea Challenge awarded by the TUM Leonardo da Vinci Center of Bionics as a first funding
The team gets a
spot at the TUM Entrepreneurship Center, situated right next to the Bio.Kitchen in Garching
By 2021 beworm
wants to isolate
promising bacteria
and sequence
their DNA, in order
to find the key-enzymes
BIOTIC
RECYCLING
SYSTEM
THE BIONEERS
Eleonore Eisath
MSc. Industrial Design
Management, Design
Erick Pano
MSc. BioNanotechnology
Research, Management
David Ruf
MSc. Industrial Design
Research, Prototyping
Verena Wolfarth
BSc. Biology
MSc. Biology (Student)
Research, Experimentation
Stefan Szalay
MSc. Biology
& Dipl. Ing. Electrical Engineering and IT
Experimentation, Prototyping
CURRENT LAB WORK
Our main goal at the moment is to find out which bioagents are the most efficient for a PE-degradation process by experimenting with different bacteria and enzymes.
Check out our lab
OUR NETWORK
XPLORE
THINK.
MAKE.
START.
WOMEN
STARTUP!
TUM
ID
YOU?
Bio.Kitchen
Chair of
Microbiology
Prof. Liebl
BENEFITS
The beworm-project is ambitious, as it enters unknown terrain. Only a few teams worldwide are working on biotic and biocatalytic recycling systems. But we think that it could really make a difference, because it:
BECOME A BIONEER
BUILD YOUR OWN INCUBATOR IN...
5 EASY STEPS!
You will only need a few simple things that you will find in the stores of your city to start your own worm farm!
Take good care of your worms and they will stun you with awesome results!
