Microbes

Microbes as Nature’s "Factory Workers"

Our bio–material, Vivomer, is made from plants which are grown by microbes in a fermentation process. What exactly do we mean by microbes and how do we harness them to make our compostable plastic packaging? 

Contrary to popular understanding, most bacteria are harmless and pose no threat to us. In fact, at Shellworks we see them as the world’s smallest chemical engineers, consuming feedstocks like waste oils and sugars and converting them into the useful bio-polymers we use at Shellworks. In the same way that humans store fat for  energy, certain microbes store fats inside their cell walls as a fuel reserve. 

The Full-Circle Lifecycle (The "Bio" in Bioplastic)

The secret behind the circularity of Vivomer is that the microbes aren’t just the creators of the material, they are also the consumers at the end of life. In a home compost or marine environment, local microbes recognise Vivomer as food. They produce enzymes that break the polymer chains back down in CO2 and water. 

Why Microbes are the Future of "Low-Carbon"

Traditional plastic requires high heat, high pressure, and fossil fuels. Microbes work at relatively low temperatures and "ambient" conditions.

Fossil-based plastic production  (like Polyethylene or Polypropylene) relies on cracking, where crude oil or natural gas is heated to massive temperatures to break large molecules into smaller ones. Industrial reactors often operate at temperatures between 400°C and 800°C. Maintaining this heat requires a constant, massive burn of fossil fuels.

Microbes, on the other hand, have spent billions of years evolving to perform complex chemistry at the same temperature as a warm summer day.

• Nature’s Catalysts: Microbes use enzymes. These are biological "keys" that lower the energy required for a chemical reaction to occur. Instead of using 500°C to force a bond, an enzyme "holds" the molecules in just the right position for them to snap together naturally.

• Lower Temperature Production: Vivomer is created by microbes at temperatures closer to XXXX. 

At Shellworks, we’re just harnessing what nature has been doing all along, to create a material that performs just as well as plastic and can return to the planet in the same way it was created.