SCALED-UP PRODUCTION OF NEXT-GENERATION CARBOHYDRATE-DERIVED BUILDING BLOCKS TO ENHANCE THE COMPETITIVENESS OF A SUSTAINABLE EUROPEAN CHEMICALS INDUSTRY

Project Information

BIONEER

Grant agreement ID: 101157779

DOI

10.3030/101157779

EC signature date 15 May 2024

Start date 1 June 2024

End date 31 May 2028

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 9 517 357,25

EU contribution

€ 7 499 999,85

Coordinated by

SINTEF AS
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIONEER (SCALED-UP PRODUCTION OF NEXT-GENERATION CARBOHYDRATE-DERIVED BUILDING BLOCKS TO ENHANCE THE COMPETITIVENESS OF A SUSTAINABLE EUROPEAN CHEMICALS INDUSTRY)

Reporting period: 2024-06-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The platform chemicals sector is currently highly dependent on fossil-fuels. The small volumes of current biobased platform chemicals are reliant on sugar/starch/oil crops which diverts them from food uses and there are also high environmental impacts linked with their land-use and supply cycles.
Lignocellulosic feedstocks, particularly residues, are more sustainable but to date the range of chemicals that have been demonstrated at-scale from these has been limited, and a range of functionalities associated with fossil-derived platform chemicals cannot be replicated by current biobased chemicals.

The primary aim of BIONEER is to broaden the range of biobased building blocks and platform molecules by demonstrating scaled-up synthesis of a range of novel molecules and polymers from lignocellulosic biomass. BIONEER thereby employs chemical and microbial production routes, with products suitable for application in the coatings, packaging and personal care sectors, valorising all biomass fractions in a zero-waste approach.
BIONEER Building Blocks (BBB) will thereby replace a number of toxic and non-environmentally friendly fossil-based building blocks in broad use today, like bisphenol A and its derivatives, alkyl acrylates, vinyl pyrrolidine, vinyl acetate, and siloxanes.
Technical (TO) and two non-technical objectives (NTO):
TO1. Utilisation of sustainable feedstock with reduced import dependency and scaled-up processing of lignocellulosic biomass, for highly efficient and eco-friendly extraction of polymers and sugars as base compounds for microbial, biochemical and chemical conversions.
TO2. Optimisation and scaled-up production of microbial-derived base compounds from lignocellulosic sugar streams.
TO3. Optimisation and scale-up of novel production routes of building blocks from the base compounds via novel enzymatic and chemical catalysis routes following SSbD framework.
TO4. Application testing and validation of the BBBs and process residues in three large industrial sectors: Personal care, Coatings and Packaging.
NTO1. Ensure Safety, compliance with relevant regulations, and sustainability of the BIONEER production routes and products by using the SSbD framework as a guidance tool in the process and product design.
NTO2. Provide a roadmap for entering the BIONEER platform chemicals into established fossil-based routes.

Building on TRL4/5 advances made in prior projects, the BIONEER consortium covers all stages of the value cycle, from the sourcing of sustainable feedstocks to the extraction and modification of biomass fractions, leading to the production of building blocks that are then application tested in the UV-cured coatings and personal care sectors by industrial partners.
Safety and sustainability aspects are integral to BIONEER, following and promoting the EU’s SSbD framework. It is expected, due to the involvement of key industrial partners, that the BIONEER technologies will be rapidly commercialised post-project.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

By the end of the first reporting period, the BIONEER project has been fully implemented and making the expected progress in its planned work.
All project partners have actively contributed to project progress progress, both by thoroughly executing their project tasks and involving in frequent cross-consortium exchange, crucial for success in such a highly interdisciplinary project.

At the end of RP1, the BIONEER project is well on track towards accomplishing its main aim with progress being made on the different chemical and biotechnological BBB production routes for target applications within furniture coatings and personal care ingredients.
Envisioned progress has been made in optimising the fractionation of locally sourced lignocellulosic residues for extraction of biopolymers to be used as BBB based compounds and their enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain fermentable sugar fractions for microbial processes. Scale-up of both processes has started.
Microbial production and purification of different types of base ingredients for BBBs have started, delivering materials for the envisioned developmental cycles of functionalisation and performance testing. Planning of technology transfer for further scale-up production during RP2 has also started.
Biomass-extracted biopolymers have been characterized and verified, and at scale production and purification of enzymes for biopolymer tailoring has started.
Chemical tailoring efforts have focused on further development of UV-curable binders, predeveloped in the PERFECOAT project, and their upscale production, while also new modifications of base compounds have been explored.
For personal care applications, focus has been on the tailoring microbial biopolymers for use in relevant haircare and skincare formulations. Application testing against relevant benchmarks by commercial project partners have provided first feedback on performance for further optimization of the new building blocks.
The development of digital approaches to guide BBB optimisation and scale-up processes has been ongoing since project start and is expected to bear fruits during the next reporting period.
Data collection for the scheduled assessments of BIONEER BBBs and production processes has been performed and the scope of the study has been defined and documented.

In general, all six objectives and the primary aim of the project are still relevant and achievable, and all except for TO4 (starting in RP2) have been systematically addressed by activities in RP1.
Overall, at the end of RP1, the BIONEER project is well on track to successfully achieve its goals and impacts.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

During the first 15 months of implementation, the BIONEER project has on a borad basis made progress beyond state of the art on the aspects detailed above, see 'Work performed and main achievements'.
The results produced up to this still early point represent important steps in progressing beyond the state of the art on new, competitive biobased solutions for the targeted applications, advancing the TRL of new BBB production processes, and demonstrating breakthrough technologies that will render BBBs more competitive in comparison to common fossil-based counterparts.
In the further run of the project and upon demonstration of the envisioned optimized products and processes, the impacts of the results of RP1 will become clearer, including the needs for further uptake and success beyond BIONEER that are not yet visible yet.
Up to now, the BIONEER project still fully addresses all original requirements of the call for proposals and the relevant CBE-JU specific objectives, SRIA Strategic Priorities, and KPIs, such that all expected impacts from the BIONEER project implementation can be reached.