Category: Standardisation, LCA, labelling and regulatory hurdles

BL2F project

Posted on 09/06/202209/06/2022 by Louis Ferrini

Project concluded

Black Liquor to Fuel

Aviation and shipping sectors are two areas of transport that are expected to grow at an incredibly fast rate, and so will their greenhouse gas emissions.

To tackle this challenge the BL2F project (Black Liquor to Fuel) will create a new, clean fuel to be used as an alternative to current fossil fuels.

BL2F is a Horizon 2020 project that will take the waste-stream of the pulp-and-paper industry, called Black Liquor, and create an end-to-end chain to produce a biofuel ready to be used in plane and ship engines. The process begins at the pulp mill, where Black Liquor will be converted into a biofuel intermediate using a novel integrated Hydrothermal Liquefaction (IHTL) concept. The biofuel intermediate will then be refined and upgraded to produce aviation and marine fuel. All the production steps in BL2F, will be optimised to make the process economically and technically feasible.

Led by Tampere University, the consortium consists of a mix of 12 partners which all bring in different resources and expertise to help ensure the project’s success. Employing the BL2F process can reduce waste, cost, greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to a circular economy. Large-scale use of the processes and fuel developed by the project can be an important asset in the fight against climate change

Contact:

Prof. of Practice Tero Joronen
email: hello@bl2f.eu

website: https://www.bl2f.eu/

BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE project

Posted on 17/05/2022 by Louis Ferrini

Project concluded

Developing and Implementing Sustainability-Based Solutions for Bio-Based Plastic Production and Use to Preserve Land and Sea Environmental Quality in Europe

The project BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE addresses the topic „Sustainable solutions for bio-based plastics on land and sea“ (Topic identifier: CE-BG-06-2019), within the focus area „Connecting economic and environmental gains – the Circular Econonmy (CE)“ and will focus on sustainability strategies and solutions for bio-based products to support the Plastics Strategy. This shall include innovative product design and business models facilitating efficient reuse and recycling strategies and solutions, including ensuring the safety of recycled materials when used for toys or packaging food stuffs. In line with the EU strategy on international cooperation in research and innovation and in order to encourage the further replication, the European consortium is complemented by a partner in Malaysia, providing an added value and helping them to address the many problems they face.

Contact:

Dr. Jelena Barbir
email: Jelena.barbir@haw-hamburg.de

website: https://www.bioplasticseurope.eu/

Talent4BBI project

Posted on 04/11/2021 by Louis Ferrini

This project ends on: 31/08/2026

Talent4BBI, the first industry led PhD MSCA programme is being led by BiOrbic, the Bioeconomy SFI Research Centre located in University College Dublin (UCD). Talent4BBI brings together 10 industry and 7 academic partners across 8 Member States and 1 Associated Country with the aim of training a cohort of 11 highly skilled industry-ready ESRs equipped to lead the future of the European bio-based industry sector. The programme provides a unique opportunity for Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) to develop key skills, competencies and experience required by the bio-based industries through a targeted programme for future bioeconomy leaders. During the 60-month programme duration, the 11 ESRs will undertake PhDs of 48 months cohosted by industry and academia. The ESRs will be recruited and co-hosted by a consortium of 16 partners across 8 Member States and 1 Associated Country (7 universities and 9 leading bio-based industries) with a wealth of collective experience in training talented mobile researchers. 3 additional industry partners will also contribute their expertise to the PhD training programme.

The programme structure offers a unique opportunity for graduates to thrive in an industrial and academic research setting and enhance the ESR career opportunities in line with the MSCA COFUND work programme objectives.

Talent4BBI’s selection process will be guided by principles of openness, transparency, merit, impartiality, and equality for the ESRs. Talent4BBI will impact the European Research Area through developing a uniquely qualified and career-driven talent pool, driving effective cooperation between industry and academia, and boosting the development of bio-based industries.

Contacts:

Prof. Kevin O’Connor – Programme coordinator
Cathy Quinn – Programme manager

email: Talent4bbi@biorbic.com

Founding source: Talent4BBI project is cofounded by H2020-EU.1.3.4., H2020-EU.1.3.

Website

HOOP project

Posted on 05/10/202105/10/2021 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

UNLOCK project

Posted on 31/08/202114/09/2021 by Louis Ferrini

This project ends on: 30/04/2025

Unlock: Unlocking a feather bioeconomy for keratin-based agricultural products

As Europe continues on its trajectory to a circular bio economy, much of the work in achieving this will lie in identifying and developing new or more efficient value chains from existing waste streams. One such waste stream is in the poultry sector, where more than 15 million tonnes of meat are produced annually. While much of the waste here is already valorised, the vast quantity of feathers produced are unexploited. Currently, only around 25% of feather waste is collected; what is gathered is frequently used for meal and fertiliser applications, which are seen as mid- to low-value applications, with low margins to match.

However, feathers are made up of nearly 90% keratin, a valuable protein that can provide a resource for biodegradable materials, including bioplastics, with applications in agriculture. The UNLOCK project seeks to demonstrate how to release the value inherent in this waste stream, by developing smart logistic strategies and efficient feather biorefineries based on steam and pressure hydrolysis -. Ultimately, this will help to establish a feather-based bioeconomy that can generate innovative bio-based functional materials for agricultural applications.

By overcoming many of the existing difficulties in collecting and processing feathers obtained from slaughterhouses, the UNLOCK project aims to position this waste chain from feathers as a source of raw material for keratin for use in agriculture. It will find applications in products such as forest and seed trays, nonwoven geotextiles, hydroponic foams and mulch films. The advantages of these materials include biodegradation aligned to the duration of crops, the capacity to add nitrogen back to soils and generating zero waste at end-of-life.

Contacts:

Sarah Montes, Project Coordinator: smontes@cidetec.es

Capucine Pineau, Communication and Dissemination Manager: c.pineau@greenovate-europe.eu

Founding source: Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the EU Horizon 2020 programme

Website

Preserve project

Posted on 15/07/202115/07/2021 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

WaysTUP! project

Posted on 01/06/202114/06/2021 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

SMARTCHAIN project

Posted on 01/06/202114/06/2021 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

SuperBIO project

Posted on 01/06/202116/07/2021 by Louis Ferrini

Project concluded

SUPERBIO focuses on the biobased economy. This emerging economy relies on the use of biomass (e.g. plants, waste) as renewable raw material for the production of new or existing products.

The technologies used are a combination of biochemistry, biotechnology, chemistry and processing technology. The cluster coordinating SUPERBIO (GBEV) has already more than 3 years’ experience in building new biobased economy value chains at regional level and is active in European projects aimed at supporting SMEs to bring innovations to the market.

The consortium consists of three cluster organisations specialised in the biobased economy from regions with synergetic smart specialisations, 4 highly skilled and experienced SME intermediates considered as important opinion makers in the biobased economy and 2 cross-sectorial SMEs regarded as specialists in their respective activities. The biobased economy goes along at least 19 different industrial sectors.

The project aims at constructing and validating new value chains providing the SMEs in the new value chains the tools to convince investors to contribute to building new emerging industries or to generate improved processes or products.

SUPERBIO will create a comprehensive open collaboration space based on the combined network of all partners, an idea validation procedure and a complementary innovation support program. Specifically, we expect to identify 10 validated value chains. With an average of 3 SMEs per value chain, this would result in providing support to about 30 SMEs or 10 SME groups. Our approach ensures the validation of sustainable and commercially viable value chains.

The output of this project will lead to the implementation of new value chains, the production of drop-in chemicals and products the production of new chemicals and products with improved features and can lead to investments in dedicated industrial production sites.

Contacts: Anneleen Devriendt anneleen.de.vriendt@bbeu.org

Website

STAR-ProBio project

Posted on 01/06/202117/06/2021 by Louis Ferrini

Project concluded

Europe is confronted with depletion of natural resources due to their unsustainable use, increased global competitiveness, increasing population and other environmental and economic challenges. Promoting the sustainable growth of dynamic bioeconomy sectors will contribute to an innovative, resource efficient and competitive Europe in transition from a fossil fuel-based society to a bio-based one. Bio-based products represent a great opportunity to reconcile sustainable long-term growth with environmental protection, a priority of the European Growth Strategy, through the prudent and responsible use of renewable resources for agriculture and industry. Managing those resources and their derived products in a sustainable manner implies major challenges. The development and use of sustainability assessment schemes for bio-based products is expected to contribute to a clear and evidence-based view of the economic, social and environmental impact/benefits of bio-based solutions.

The overall goal of the project was to formulate guidelines for a common framework promoting the development of regulations and standards that support the adoption of business innovation models and market uptake in the bio-based products sector.

This objective was achieved by performing a comprehensive assessment, which looked at the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) in a cradle-to-cradle fashion. Proposed methodologies, criteria and indicators have been applied to selected case studies to illustrate benefits and impacts of bio-based products.

At the end of the project, the following results (progress beyond the state of the art) were achieved:

(1) The SAT-ProBio framework, integrating a refined set of LCA and the hybridized indicators (which create linkages between principles of circular economy and LCA), constitutes a framework that enables an efficient impact-led evaluation.

(2) The SyD-ProBio model, a system dynamic model for policy analysis.

(3) A bio-based markets assessment aimed at identifying measures for the market uptake of bio-based products and the relevance of sustainability certification.

Results in these areas allow assessing: social and economic dimensions of sustainability, along with the environmental one; social and economic impact of alternative policy measures; societal aspects (consumers’ behavior, social acceptance, etc.) related to the market penetration of bio-based products.

Contacts: Piergiuseppe Morone: piergiuseppe.morone@unitelmasapienza.it

Website