Category: Awareness raising

HOOP project

HOOP project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 30/09/2024

HOOP: Hub of circular cities boosting platform to foster investments for the valorisation of urban biowaste and wastewater

The HOOP project supports 8 lighthouse cities and regions in developing large-scale urban circular bioeconomy initiatives that will focus on making bio-based products from urban biowaste and wastewater. Specifically, HOOP will provide Project Development Assistance (PDA) to Albano-Laziale (Italy), Almere (The Netherlands), Bergen (Norway), Kuopio (Finland), Münster (Germany), Murcia (Spain), Greater Porto (Portugal), and Western Macedonia (Greece).

The HOOP Urban Circular Bioeconomy Hub will create an online platform to foster knowledge exchange and replication in cities and regions across Europe.

Contacts:

Coordination
Gemma Castejón, CETENMA: gemma.castejon@cetenma.es

Martín Soriano, CETENMA: martin.soriano@cetenma.es

Communication
James Ling, Greenovate! Europe: j.ling@greenovate-europe.eu

Founding source: Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme

Website

Preserve project

Preserve project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/12/2024

Preserve: High performance sustainable bio-based packaging with tailored end of life and upcycled secondary use

Bio-based plastics, made in whole or partially from renewable biological resources, are mostly used in packaging applications. Growing concerns around single-use packaging waste is putting pressure on companies to improve the sustainability of their packaging. In this context, the EU-funded PRESERVE project will boost the circular use of bio-based packaging. Specifically, it will work to enhance the performance of primary food packaging. It will leverage the compounding of enzymes in bioplastics to stimulate biodegradation. The entire process that is required to produce at least 10 packaging demonstrators will be upscaled. Project results will benefit Europe’s plastic packaging market by creating jobs and growth.

Contacts:

Aldo Ramirez Reyes – IRIS (Coordinator) aramirez@iris-eng.com
Mara Menella – Kneia (WP Leader Communication and Dissemination) mara@kneia.com
Christian Schulz – European Bioplastics (Dissemination Manager) schulz@european-bioplastics.org
Natalia Grzomba – Crowdhelix (Clustering Lead) natalia.grzomba@crowdhelix.com

Founding source: Horizon2020

 

LIFE EBP project

LIFE EBP project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 30/09/2024

LIFE EBP (Ecofriendly multipurpose Biobased Products from municipal biowaste) addresses environmental problems in municipal biowaste (MBW) management, agriculture and chemical industry by proving feasible production and use of new biobased products (BPs) obtained from MBW.

Contacts: Piergiuseppe Morone piergiuseppe.morone@unitelmasapienza.it

Founding source: LIFE Programme of the European Union

 

 URBIOFIN project

 URBIOFIN project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

URBIOFIN project: Demonstration of an integrated innovative biorefinery for the transformation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) into new BioBased products

Due to the rapid growth of population, municipal solid waste (MSW) has contributed significantly to the total amount of waste generated by our society. Today in Europe, each habitant generates, in average, 0.5 tonnes of MSW per year, increasing at an annual rate of 10%. Around 40-50% of it correspond to organic waste. This organic fraction mainly contains carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, which are all useful raw material that can be converted to valuable products. Its valorisation will help to solve environmental pollution but also contributes to the transition from a linear to a renewable circular economy. Digestion and composting have contributed to the reduction of the biodegradable fraction of MSW sent to landfill. The low economical value of compost and biogas is limiting the sustainable implementation of separate sourcing systems since increasing citizen environmental (waste) taxes is then needed to tackle important logistic costs. New biobased products can help to improve waste treatment environmental and socioeconomical sustainability.

The aim of URBIOFIN project is to demonstrate the techno-economic and environmental viability of the conversion at semi-industrial scale (10 T/d) of the organic fraction of MSW (OFMSW) into: Chemical building blocks (bioethanol, volatile fatty acids, biogas), biopolymers (polyhydroyalkanoate and biocomposites) or additives (microalgae hydrolisated for biofertilisers). By using the biorefinery concept applied to MSW (urban biorefinery), URBIOFIN will exploit the OFMSW as feedstock to produce different valuable marketable products for different markets: agriculture, cosmetics. URBIOFIN will offer a new feasible and more sustainable scenario alternative to the current treatment of the OFMSW.

Contacts: Project Coordinator Ms Caterina Coll, caterina@perseobiotech.com

Mr Manolis Tsantakis, mdt@etam.gr
Founding source: Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the EU Horizon 2020 programme

Website

 WaysTUP! project

 WaysTUP! project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Converting bio-waste into valuable products will contribute to a circular economy. The EU-funded WaysTUP! project aims to establish new value chains for urban bio-waste utilisation to produce higher value products, including food and feed ingredients through a multi-stakeholder approach. The project is set to showcase a rash of new products produced from urban bio-waste-to-bio-based processes starting from different feedstocks, including fish and meat waste, spent coffee grounds, household source separated bio-waste and used cooking oils. In its implementation, WaysTUP! will develop a behavioural change approach with citizens and local communities, improving and changing longstanding perceptions on urban bio-waste. It will also help promote active participation of citizens in the collection of urban bio-waste.

Contacts: Manolis Tsantakis: mdt@etam.gr
Maroulla Schiza mcs@etam.gr

Website

 VALOR PLUS project

 VALOR PLUS project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini

Project concluded

Objective

The Valor-Plus supports the realisation of sustainable, economically viable closed loop integrated biorefineries through the development of new knowledge, (bio-)technologies and products that enable valorisation of key biorefinery by-products. The project comprises five key areas:
• Pre-treatment and fractionation: development of a novel methodology for the controlled and selective breakdown, release and fractionation of the lignocellulose biomass to minimally degraded cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin fractions that are suitable for further downstream refinement and processing to value product streams
• Hemicellulose Valorisation: engineering of new enzymes and microorganisms for the controlled hydrolysis and transformation of hemicellulose to high value oligomers and bulk fermentation product streams (butanol, ethanol and single cell proteins for animal feed)
• Lignin Valorisation: utilisation of combined chemo-enzymatic and chemo-microbial processes for the controlled depolymerisation and transformation of standardised lignin feedstocks to discrete families of platform and intermediate macromolecular and monomer chemicals; and their subsequent transformation to value product streams (fuels, platform chemicals, monomers for synthesis of resins and functional additives)
• Glycerol Valorisation: engineering of new microorganisms that are the suitable for the fermentation of crude glycerol to higher value product streams (lipids, alcohols and organic acids)
• Demonstration of the technological and economic potential for integration and scale-up within existing and future biorefinery value chains: including: demonstration of component technologies, focused biodiesel refinery case study, roadmaps for technology and product stream integration, and a full life cycle assessment

The project assembles an industrially focused pan-European consortium spanning the complete biorefinery value chain, including 9 SMEs, 1 large enterprise, 2 research centres and 3 universities

Contacts: Beatriz Palomo (ASEBIO) Dissemination and Exploitation WP Leader Valor Plus: bpalomo@asebio.com
Thomas Kowalik (IFAM) Ifam Fraunhofer Institute Valor Plus Coordinator

Website

 SMARTCHAIN project

 SMARTCHAIN project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Objective

SMARTCHAIN is an ambitious, 3 year project with 43 partners from 11 European countries including key stakeholders from the domain of short food supply chain as actors in the project. The central objective is to foster and accelerate the shift towards collaborative short food supply chains and, through concrete actions and recommendations, to introduce new robust business models and innovative practical solutions that enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the European agri-food system.
Using bottom-up, demand-driven research, the SMARTCHAIN consortium i) will perform a multi-perspective analysis of 18 case studies of short food supply chains in terms of technological, regulatory, social, economic and environmental factors, ii) will assess the linkages and interactions among all stakeholders involved in short food supply chains and iii) will identify the key parameters that influence sustainable food production and rural development among different regions in Europe.
The project aims to establish 9 national communities of short food supply chains (Innovation and Collaboration Hubs) in different partner countries (France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland) and a virtual innovation hub in order to facilitate stakeholder engagement, bringing farmers and consumers together in a trust-enhancing environment enabling them to generate demand driven-innovations.
Combination of scientific and practical knowledge and the use of innovation workshops will enable the development of practical innovative solutions as well as the promotion of a framework for different forms of collaborative short food supply chains in urban and rural areas. SMARTCHAIN will generate concrete actions for knowledge transfer, through the organisation of multi-stakeholder workshops and training activities for farmers and short food supply chain entrepreneurs.

Contacts:  Susanne Braun: susanne.braun@uni-hohenheim.de

Website

 UrBIOfuture project

 UrBIOfuture project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

UrBIOfuture’s main goal is to bring Europe to the forefront of the bio-based industry, a sector in full growth that requires a high number of experts in its workforce. However, one of the challenges for its development is the educational gap between the professional profiles demanded by the sector and the existing educational offer. To bridge this gap is one of the main purposes of UrBIOfuture, which started on May 1st with the goal of boosting careers, new educational programmes and research activities. Since then, this initiative carried out research to map European educational programmes involving bio-based activities and to identify the skills mismatch between them and the bioindustry needs. In addition, it involved stakeholders from the education sector, academia and industry, it organised a series of events, and it elaborated a set of materials, all with the aim of setting the path for the industry to attract qualified talent.

Contacts: info@urbiofuture.eu and Ana Martinez: anamartinez@sustainableinnovations.eu

Website

 Transition to Green Economy project

 Transition to Green Economy project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Objective

The main objective of the project was to contribute to a transition towards a green economy in Europe through organization of the international conference “Transition to a green economy” (T2gE). This international conference was an event of major strategic nature during the Slovak Presidency of the European Council. Conference brought together a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Its ambition was to improve understanding of the green economy concept, identify conclusions and pathways for transition as well as to involve and mobilise various actors and stakeholders in the discussions of possible future actions. The conference also aimed to strengthen synergy among various recent initiatives and programmes launched by the European Commission (i.e 7EAP, Circular economy package, Energy Union, Juncker Commission’s priorities etc) and by the Member States, to the benefit of the overall coherence.

The conference aimed to bring together policymakers from various EU countries, as well as a range of stakeholders from international organizations, academia, business, and civil society and encourage an open debate around key green economy issues. At the end of the conference, draft conclusions, for both the national and the European level, were approved in order to be useful tool for implementation of policy in the field of green economy. Parallel breakout sessions were devoted to various relevant subjects with the involvement of representatives from civil society, policymakers, business, science and innovations, and regional and local authorities. The participants presented examples of the green economy approaches from successful countries, which were discussed and reflected in the conclusions to ensure that green economy policy conclusions are relevant to countries’ needs. Part of the conference was oriented on practical demonstration of Slovak examples of green/circular economy – field trip.

Contacts: Robert Miskuf: r.miskuf@pedal-consulting.eu

Website

 Transition2BIO project

 Transition2BIO project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

An integrated package of activities for sustainable production and consumption

Production and consumption drive the economy. Global challenges like climate change, land and ecosystem degradation, coupled with a growing population, force us to seek new, sustainable ways of life that respect the ecological boundaries of our planet. The EU-funded Transition2BIO project is proposing an integrated package of activities addressing a wide range of stakeholders (demand side, supply side, multipliers and supportive environment). It will valorise and exploit sectoral communication tools and activities, raise public awareness of bioeconomy and contribute to the transition towards more sustainable production through engagement and education activities. The project is also funding the activities of the European Bioeconomy Network, an alliance of more than 80 projects and initiatives promoting bioeconomy.

Contacts: Chiara Pocaterra: pocaterra@apre.it

Website