Project description
New tech to replace animal-derived materials
Animal-derived performance ingredients used in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sector are commonly associated with ethical concerns and do not comply with sustainable and clean labels. The holistic biotechnological conversion of edible mushroom cultivation waste allows for the production of non-animal equivalents but the associated bioprocesses often show low-yields that hinder scalability. The EU-funded MYCOCIRCLE project will develop new technologies (including an enzymatic fractionation process and two fermentation pathways) to produce fungal derived performance carbohydrates, terpene enriched lipids as well as a purified protein fraction, which will be tested in cosmetics and agrochemical applications. The consortium spans the entire value chain and will leverage expertise in biomass valorisation with enzymatic processing.
Objective
Animal-derived materials are surprisingly widespread in everyday products. For example, in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and agrochemicals industries, squalene (from shark liver oil), chitin/chitosan (from crustaceans) and animal-derived proteins and fats are widely exploited despite growing ethical and sustainability concerns.
Fungal biomass is rich in chitin, while recent advances in fermentation technologies offer opportunities to convert fungal glucans into microbial proteins, oils and even triterpenes such as squalene.
However, scalability is a major challenge, due to the limited availability of clean fungal biomass and competition with food/feed value chains. Moreover, oil production using existing fungal fermentation routes is limited to low-value triglycerides, and efficient product extraction remains a bottleneck.
Feedstock diversification is needed, alongside innovation towards higher-value products and more efficient processes.
The production of edible mushrooms produces ~189M tpa of mycelium rich wastes, contaminated with lignocellulosic growth substrate. This contamination makes these wastes unsuitable for food/feeds, and incompatible with existing valorisation approaches.
MYCOCIRCLE will focus on this challenging feedstock, developing new technologies including an enzymatic fractionation process, two parallel fermentation routes, and novel enzymatic chitin conversion reactions.
The resulting product streams, including fungal chitosan/chito-oligosaccharides, a high-value squalene-rich microbial oil, and microbial proteins, will be validated as replacements to animal derived materials in cosmetic and agrochemical applications.
The MYCOCIRCLE consortium represents the entire value chain, from feedstock producers (SYLVAN, KORONA) to industrial biotechnology companies (GST), and end users (GI, THGL). This value chain will be supported by world experts in biomass valorisation, enzymatic processing, and SSbD development: TUM, SINTEF, NMBU, SLU and IDENER.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- agricultural sciences agricultural biotechnology biomass
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
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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-RIA - HORIZON JU Research and 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-2024
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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.
80333 Muenchen
Germany
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.