Development of scalable, safe bio-based surfactants, with an improved sustainability profile

Surfactants are often classified by: i) feedstock for synthesis, ii) biodegradability, safety and environmental effects, iii) application and iv) chemical structure (drop-in[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) or dedicated[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) chemical structures). Bio-based surfactants are produced from biomass as high value products, typically for consumer applications [household (45%), personal care (11%)]; while other sectors are characterised by a smaller share, including processing applications (e.g. food, textiles, waste treatment, etc.). Overall, there is market penetration, with an approximately 50% EU bio-based production share (4% CAGR[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]])[[Spekreijse(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) J., Lammens, T., Parisi, C., Ronzon, T. and Vis, M., Insights into the European market for bio-based chemicals, EUR 29581 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-01500-0, doi:10.2760/739561 JRC112989.and ‘Road2Bio’ BBI JU project.]]. Therefore, safety and sustainability performance improvements in bio-based surfactants are expected to have cascading impact in existing but also novel markets/applications.

Bio-based surfactants often face limitations for larger uptake such as high costs and niche applications. Moreover, their EU production is at present mainly based on primary biomass (vegetable oils, sugar and starch), bringing land use impacts but also often influencing the degree of feedstock imports. Currently, there is a reported impact on land use, with an index of about 0.6 ha/t of product, whereas the feedstock import dependency is at approximately 68% for the EU bio-based production.[[Spekreijse, J., Lammens, T., Parisi, C., Ronzon, T. and Vis, M., Insights into the European market for bio-based chemicals, EUR 29581 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-01500-0, doi:10.2760/739561 JRC112989.and ‘Road2Bio’ BBI JU project.]] In view of the foreseen upscale of the bio-based production capacity, feedstock diversification should be sought. Other challenges are related to wider bio-based surfactants’ production/supply issues and upstream as well as downstream production process challenges, affecting the OPEX (and often CAPEX as well). For applications where surfactants are found in end products, substitution of conventional ones can result into complex re-formulation effects, affecting market uptake by brand-owners, together with an existing uncertainty of steady supply.

Proposals under this topic should:

• Scale up the energy and resource efficient production of anionic and/or cationic, and/or non-ionic and/or microbial bio-based surfactants. Concerning chemical structure, both dedicated[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) and/or drop in[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) structures are in scope[[Co-production of the in-focus, main production of bio-based surfactants with other bio-based chemicals is also in scope.]] [[As per ’scope‘s introductory part and ’expected outcomes‘ sections, surfactants applicable to end products/formulations and/or processing applications are in scope.]].
• Address and assess feedstock-sourcing sustainability to produce bio-based surfactants. This could be done by replacing feedstock imported from outside the EU, with sustainably sourced EU feedstock[[For feedstock origin, refer to section 2.2.3.2 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)).]] or by scaling up the valorisation of circular EU feedstock sources (e.g. agricultural and agro-industrial waste and residual streams, municipal waste, industrial food waste etc) [[Feedstock chosen should ensure that there is no competition with food/feed, as well as adhere to environmental sustainability requirements (including biodiversity, etc.) - see also ‘specific requirements’ of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)).]].
• Include in the early design phase, key aspects such as biodegradability, mildness but also other desirable properties (e.g. antimicrobial), as relevant to meeting application-related, technical performance and environmental sustainability criteria. Moreover, testing against those aspects should be included, based on EU standards, as available[[Please advise further European standard EN 17035 ’Surface active agents - Bio-based surfactants - Requirements and test methods’, with this also including recommended criteria and methodologies for determining the degradability of the bio-based surfactants, among other surfactants' related aspects.]].
• Assess and demonstrate safety benefits, considering both ecotoxicity and human toxicity aspects, while also taking into account the final products/formulations and/or other applications (e.g. process/manufacturing -related applications). End-products should aim to meet all relevant market and regulatory requirements (e.g. in terms of consumers safety and HS&E).
• Integrate a task to perform assessment based on the safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) framework, developed by the European Commission, for assessing the safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials[[See documents defining the framework and criteria on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en.]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie). Under this context, projects are expected to contribute with and develop recommendations that can advance further the application of the SSbD framework[[More specifically, provide thresholds that can support the criteria definition and improvements for the assessment SSbD methodologies, including any specificities related with bio-based surfactants. Recommendations should also include identification of data gaps, especially safety, environmental, but also socio-economic factors, as well as priorities for data collection.]].
• Analyse and prove techno-economic feasibility as well as commercial viability for the proposed bio-based surfactants, also providing a comparison to fossil-based and/or bio-based benchmarks, where these exist.
• Demonstrate and optimise the ‘robustness’ and impact of the bio-based surfactants by testing them in: i) final products/formulations. Validate therefore the developed bio-based surfactants for formulation (re)design, whilst investigating and understanding the complex physicochemical behaviour of the new surfactant molecules in mixtures/formulations, as well as their potential implications in end-product(s) scale up, performance and (physical, chemical) stability, and/or ii) final production/manufacturing processes, while meeting technical and holistic environmental performance criteria.

Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach and demonstrate the involvement of all concerned key actors, including the involvement of feedstock suppliers, brand owners[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) and any relevant B2B[[for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]](odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) actors.

Proposals should also describe their contribution to the specific CBE JU requirements, presented in section 2.2.3.1 and the cross-cutting elements, highlighted in section 2.2.3.2 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023[[CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2023 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)]].(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)

Proposals should consider synergies with past and ongoing projects[[Proposals should consider ongoing and past projects, especially under BBI JU as well as H2020 but also HEU (especially Cluster 6). E.g. BBI JU projects CARBOSURF (RIA), PERCAL (RIA), IRRODI (RIA) and WASTE2FUNC (IA-DEMO). See also HEU-CBE JU-IA-03 ’Improve fermentation processes (including downstream purification) to final products’]].