Project description
A new way to prevent wood waste from reaching landfills
Wood waste, contaminated and/or unwanted woody material, is an underutilised resource. The main components of wood (cellulose and lignin) can be isolated and used to create valuable materials. The EU-funded Bioflex project will divert wood waste from reaching landfills or incineration facilities and will prevent sawdust from going into fuel pellets. This will allow production of lignin and cellulose from these currently underused wood resources to enter new, emerging or existing value chains. The market is estimated to be EUR 40.9 billion for BioFlex-made cellulose and EUR 13.4 billion for wood waste recycling. The Bioflex process can be used with any kind of woody material and is compatible with metal and organic contaminants such as paint and preservatives.
Objective
We have developed the BioFlex solvent process that uses contaminated and/or unwanted waste wood as a very cheap raw-material to produce clean and high-quality inputs for the production of renewable chemicals, fuels and materials. A simple chemical process separates the main components of wood: cellulose and lignin. These can then be turned into final products such as bio-plastics, common chemicals and novel materials.
There are a variety of new value chains that are potentially created through our technology. For example, using the waste wood from a local council, cellulose can be isolated, which is hydrolysed, fermented to succinic acid and then used in paint. The lignin isolated alongside the cellulose can be turned into a drop-in biodiesel sold at the local petrol station. Similarly, sawdust from a timber mill can be fractionated, the cellulose used to produce methylcellulose as a thickener in food, the lignin turned into a bio-derived plastic.
We are diverting wood waste from going to landfill or incineration and sawdust going into pellets. The European pellets market is saturated, also with pellets imported from the Americas. The lignin and cellulose produced from these currently underused wood resources can enter new, emerging, or existing value chains.
Our competition on the waste wood disposal side is incineration, offering energy recovery in some cases but resulting in the formation of toxic ash and contributing to air pollution. For some heavily treated waste wood there are no competitors except for costly and highly undesirable landfilling which are largely viewed as problematic by both waste producers and waste managers.
The market is estimated to be EUR 40.9 billion for BioFlex made cellulose and EUR 13.4 billion of waste wood recycling. We have established a clear timeline for commercialization and signed a number of agreements with partners to make this plan feasible. We have an interdisciplinary and dedicated team to make Bioflex commercialized.
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 environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- engineering and technology environmental engineering air pollution engineering
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials bioplastics
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials biofuels
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries forestry
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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.
-
H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
10141 Tallinn
Estonia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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.