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.
