Project description
Developing novel bio-based green surfactants for home care and agriculture
Industrial formulations currently rely on fossil-based surfactants and polymers. However, the EU Green Deal advocates for transitioning to new chemistries based on sustainable and natural compounds, yet research in this area is still in its early stages. To address this gap, the EU-funded SurfToGreen project aims to develop a new surfactant platform to replace current benchmarks across various industrial applications. SurfToGreen will use biomass-derived building blocks to create novel bio-based surfactants, encompassing anionic, nonionic, cationic, and zwitterionic surfactant families, as well as biopolymers and oligomers sourced from renewable materials. The objective of the project is to validate these innovative products in sectors such as home and personal care, textiles, and agriculture.
Objective
Formulations in industrial applications primarily rely on fossil-based surfactants/polymers significantly contributing to environmental pollution (CO2 increase, microplastics) and are scarcely sustainable. The EU Green Deal demands for new chemistries based on sustainable and natural compounds. Effective bio-based surfactants are poorly integrated in industry and in their infancy in research. SurfToGreen will fill this gap with a completely new surfactants platform covering diverse industrial applications to replace current surfactant benchmarks. SurfToGreen gathers a unique partnership of major industrial actors and excellence research centers, with the advanced knowledge on soft matter and industrial processes fundamental to achieve this challenging goal. Biomass derived building blocks will be obtained from EU territorial value chains, including forests and agriculture waste/side streams to diversify biomass origin, and used to synthesize novel biobased surfactants. The new products will cover anionic, nonionic, cationic, zwitterionic surfactant families, and biopolymers-oligomers from renewable sources with no impact on the food chain. The platform will be validated in three industrial demonstrators among the most fast-growing crucial sectors, i.e. home/personal care, textile, and agriculture. The compounds’ surface properties will be assessed against detergency, interfacial, and rheological behaviour. Polymers/oligomers, hydrotropes and surfactants will be used for encapsulation to protect and control the delivery of actives (perfumes, and compounds for plant protection). Digital technologies and safe-and-sustainable by design methodologies will assess the functionality, safety, and sustainability of the biobased formulations within a circular value chain framework. Finally, extensive exploitation and communication will be carried out to promote the SurfToGreen advancements as a pilot to drive a paradigm shift in EU and global industry.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering textiles
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.2.6 - Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.6.6 - Bio-based Innovation Systems in the EU Bioeconomy
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-JU-IA - HORIZON JU Innovation Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-JU-CBE-2023
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
50019 Firenze
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.