Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PURE (Prototyping emerging bio-based products from lignocellulose by zero-waste pathways)
Période du rapport: 2020-03-01 au 2022-08-31
The ERC Proof-of-Concept project PURE aimed to address the development of novel, sustainable pathways to produce high performance, 100% surfactants which can be derived from locally available renewable raw material waste streams (waste cooking oil, forestry and agro-waste of lignin side-products of papermaking).
Within the project, the feasibility, scalability, and commercial potential of the new sustainable pathways was examined, and the performance of the new bio-based structures, with the common denominator being a lignin-based linker, was evaluated. In total, a library of 40 surfactants was generated and characterized, including non-ionic (amine-oxides), zwitterionic (amino-acid based) and anionic compounds (sulfonates).
In total, two PCT patents and two Austrian PRIO patents were filed. A market study was performed, an initial business case, and commercialization strategy was developed together with ttopstart B.V. via subcontracting. Regarding traction, 12 interviews were conducted and 10 letters of intent of interested parties could be collected. Furthermore, multiple follow-up grants were secured, with the most prestigious being an EIC Transition Grant for €2.5M (PureSurf, #101058142). Other grants include the AWS Prototypefunding as well as the UNICORN Spin-off Lab Fellowship 2021.