To be competitive and to ensure sustainability in the face of global challenges and technological advancements, the European industrial sector must urgently introduce drastic changes to comply with net-zero targets, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to shift towards an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable development. Highly efficient and cost-effective biorefinery systems are recognised as solid solutions that support our industrial transition towards this direction. Nonetheless, it remains a crucial challenge to achieve a sustainable model for their adequate implementation.
To tackle this issue, CIRCLE aims to demonstrate at industrial scale a first-of-its-kind retrofitted biorefinery for the valorisation of food waste streams and additional biomasses into high-value bio-based chemicals and intermediates, such as lactic acid (LA) as well as derived products, including polylactic acid (PLA), upgrading and expanding the production capacity of an existing biogas plant. The production process will take advantage of the existing facility and of the renewable energy (biogas and heat) directly produced, thus making the production highly energy efficient. The proposed technology is highly scalable and replicable as it is designed to be deployed as an ‘add-on’ to existing food waste processing infrastructures. CIRCLE will reach the TRL8 by the end of the project by demonstrating the production of LA, lactate salt (LS), and industrial and polymer-grade LA. The application of these bio-based chemicals and intermediates will be demonstrated through the production of a wide portfolio of bio-based products fully compliant with market requirements, such as cosmetics products (for LA and LS), cleaning products (for LA) as well as the automotive, cosmetics and food packaging sectors (for PLA). The production of recyclable PLA, which can replace fossil-based polypropylene (PP) in a wide range of applications, will make a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution avoidance.
