SusChem News Redirect

Friday, 31 August 2018

KETs Impact: National funding promotes Process Analytical Technologies

The recent SusChem White paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’ included a number of success stories highlighting publicly funded innovation involving KETs and the SusChem News blog is featuring a selection of these fruitful 'SusChem inspired' initiatives.

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Sustainable chemistry is essential to the technological advance of KETs including advanced materials, advanced manufacturing technologies, industrial biotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and photonics. SusChem's key enabling technologies provide the critical building blocks for the solutions needed to achieve a sustainable low carbon circular economy. You can find out more here.

Our final KETs success story focuses on the PAC (Process Analytical Chemistry) network, an Austrian industrial research initiative for process analysis that brings together industrial and academic research expertise and has been funded by a combination of national and regional sources.

"imPACts delivered”: the Austrian platform for Process Analytical Chemistry

imPACts creates IMPACT through unique partnership

Member State funding creates unique collaboration in a PAC platform of more than 20 partners

PAT – Process Analytical Technologies have an immense impact on the productivity, efficiency and safety of large volume chemical production. Investment in this expertise pays off in securing the position of the process industry.

In Austria, already in 2010, the research platform PAC – Process Analytical Chemistry was founded, based on a national funded research project.

The consortium placed a strong focus on further development of PAT in Spectroscopy and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) based on inline Rheology, on Process-Modelling and Process-Understanding, together leading to a closed-loop and tight real-time Process Control and Optimisation.

New measurement technologies were invented, application demonstrators implemented and evaluated in industry, high ranking journal papers were published, and patents were filed.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

In the consortium more than 20 partners from industry and research institutions cooperate and perform application-oriented research as well as strategic research.

Impact

Technology: more than 10 technology demonstrators evaluated, six patents filed
Economic & Environmental: all process optimisation targeting efficiency issues
Social: 28 PhD, 34 Master, 28 Bachelor Theses; internal training scheme established
Scientific: 75 journal publications, > 200 conference contributions, five conferences
European Link: The PAC-network was sustainably established in SusChem-AT - the SusChem National Technology Platform (NTP) in Austria

More information

The projects received funding from the Austrian Ministries BMVIT and BMWFW, the Federal State of Upper Austria and the Federal State of Lower Austria.

imPACts: “Industrial Methods for Process Analytical Chemistry - From Measurement Technologies to Information Systems (imPACts)”

imPACts (contract # 843546) and PAC (contract # 825340) are Austrian COMET K-projects.

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Thursday, 30 August 2018

KETs Impact: SME instrument brings innovative food supplement to market

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our penultimate KETs success story number focuses on a project, LIFEOMEGA, funded under the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument to develop an innovative food supplement consisting of a high concentrated emulsion of the Omega-3 fatty acid EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid). Omega-3 is utilised as a treatment in psoriasis, arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, chronic inflammatory, cancer, high blood Triglycerides (TGs), retinal diseases and cardiovascular failure.

LIFEOMEGA Project

Developing an innovative highly concentrated Omega 3 food supplement

EU SME Instrument supports breakthrough innovation project with market-creating potential

Solutex is an innovative SME continuously investing in research and innovation to offer high quality products for nutritional and pharmaceutical industries. Solutex is in the forefront of research in Omega-3 to improve the quality of life and nutrition of cancer patients. LIFEOMEGA-cancer, considered as one chemotherapy essential nutrient co-adjuvant, is one of the latest products. The scale up of technology to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8, has been made possible with EU SME funding.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

For an SME, partnerships with both RTOs and large companies is key to long-term success. Solutex has a partnership for a commercial agreement with one the most important pharmaceutical groups in Spain. Collaboration with hospitals and clinics has been essential for the success of the project and to carry out the clinical trials needed. After the preliminary research, carried out with company’s own resources, Solutex successfully applied for a Phase-I SME Instrument, and for a Phase-II SME instrument. The funding received has been fundamental to develop the final product and the scale-up.

Impact

The social impact for cancer patients’ treatments is very important. With the new product, the quality of life of cancer patients is improved. Chemotherapy effects become tolerable and hospitalisation time is reduced.
The new product is an essential nutrient adjuvant in chemotherapy. The medical benefits of the product are appreciated. Preliminary findings show that Omega-3 supplement increases chemotherapy effectiveness.

With the funding received, the time to the market was reduced by about three years, a parameter of paramount importance for an SME. Additionally, it brings the opportunity to open to new markets and new partnerships in the pharma and nutraceutical sectors.

More information

LIFEOMEGA: Innovative highly concentrated Omega-3 Food Supplement (Horizon 2020 / SME Instrument 1 GA number 683658)

LIFEOMEGA: Innovative highly concentrated Omega-3 Specialized Nutrition Product (Horizon 2020 / SME Instrument 2 GA number 755889)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Wednesday, 22 August 2018

Registration for SusChem Brokerage 2018 is now open!

The SusChem Brokerage Event 2018 which will take place on Tuesday 23 October 2018 at Hotel Le Plaza, Bld Adolphe Max 118-126 in central Brussels, Belgium. Registration is now open and participation in the event is free of charge!

SusChem’s vision is for a competitive and innovative Europe where Sustainable Chemistry, Biotechnology and enabling Digital technologies respond to Societal challenges by providing Sustainable solutions.

The SusChem Brokerage event is a unique opportunity for large industry, academic institutions, research organizations (RTOs), SMEs and startups to form consortia and submit project proposals targeting the 2019 and 2020 calls of Horizon 2020. Project ideas can cover topics such as Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing (NMBP).

Details of the 2018-2020 Work Programme for Horizon 2020 can be found here.

What can you expect?

The event aims to open up a dialogue on how bright Sustainable Chemistry ideas can enhance Europe’s competitiveness, and drive the development of beneficial partnerships between early-stage innovators, Industry and Academia.

During the brokerage event, participants can:

Be informed directly by European Commission representatives presenting open Horizon 2020 calls on SusChem-related topics (e.g., Materials, Process Technology, Eco Innovation),
Interact with the SusChem National Platforms (NTPs), representing a number of project ideas,
Connect with BBI JU and SPIRE and receive information on their project portfolio and open calls,
Pitch project ideas live to the SusChem Stakeholder community,
Reach out to other stakeholders via ‘speed-dating’ and networking sessions to form consortia.

The draft agenda for the event is available to download here and you can register for the event here.

The event kicks off on 23 October at 08h30 with presentations starting from 09h30. In the morning the Commission will present on call topics for Materials, Processes. And Eco Innovation calls followed by a project pitching session. After a coffee break the Commission will present its calls on ICT topics and Energy followed by a second project pitching session.

After lunch a presentation on ‘Disruptive Innovation in Europe’ will be made followed by a third project pitching session, an introduction to the speed-dating session and the session itself. The event will wrap up with a networking cocktail

Pitch those ideas!

To submit project ideas for the pitching sessions on the Horizon 2020-2019 calls, SusChem invites you to go to our GRANT-IT portal and select "Propose a Project" from the top menu.

More details on how to submit your project proposal can be found here.

KETs Impact: Self-assembling polymers enable efficient semiconductor fab

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our ninth KETs success story highlights PLACYD, a FP7 project funded via the Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership (ECSEL) Joint Undertaking, and led by Arkema to establish a dedicated material manufacturing facility to produce block copolymers meeting the rigorous standards required for use in industry as nanolithographic templates for electronics and semiconductors. PLACYD brought together leading researchers and industries to allow for the first time the integration of synthesis through to wafer scale production and system/device characterisation developing an industrial solution including all key technologies including Materials, Metrology, Integration Processes, and Design tools.

Pilot Line for Self-Assembly Copolymers Delivery

A disruptive technology breakthrough strengthened EU leadership in semiconductors

Public funding aligned an eco-innovation system. Synergies enabled a breakthrough development

The semiconductor industry economy relies on geometrical scaling of transistors to insure performances improvement, power consumption reduction and cost per transistor reduction. Therefore, the well-known Moore’s law, relating to the reduction of devices’ critical dimensions by a factor of two every 18 months, has been driving the semiconductor roadmap. Up to now, devices scaling has been enabled by continuous improvements of optical lithography. Directed Self Assembly (DSA) lithography is a disruptive patterning technology that no longer relies on optics but on the polymer’s characteristics (composition and molecular weight). In DSA technology, the pattern is included within the material as the molecular weight defines the critical dimensions and the pitch the composition of the pattern.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

PLACYD project relied on a strong consortium gathering companies and academic laboratories that covered the full eco innovation system and all necessary skills from material to end-users including process and equipment manufacturers. The success of the project was established through synergies and complementarities of the partners along the value chain.

In DSA technology “the pitch is in the bottle”, the polymer and resists quality and reproducibility were key to the success of the technology. Therefore, specific efforts in developing new processes as well as new metrology techniques have been carried out leading to excellent performance and the state of the art in this sector. The metallic contamination of the resist is bellow 10ppb for all metals, the organic purity of the polymer is greater than 99.9% thanks to a unique proprietary technique that allows to discriminate homopolymers from copolymers and the copolymer dispersity has been reduced to less than 1.05.

On the patterning quality aspect, CEA-Leti developed new integration schemes that allows a wide range of configurations while insuring optimum pattern performances.

Impact

Increasing European leadership in microelectronics and more specifically in lithography both in terms of academic recognition (more than 60 papers and conferences), Intellectual Property position (i.e. more than 25 patent families were applied for within the project, half of them are already public) and in terms of industrial leadership.
Commercial products have been launched based on PLACYD results. On the material side, ARKEMA launches its Nanostrength EO material suite that includes a full range of DSA resists for both lamellar and cylindrical patterns ranging from 20 nm to 50 nm pitches. On the design side, project partner MENTOR commercialises the DSA module within its EDA CALIBRE software suite.

In summary, PLACYD allowed the development of a full DSA solution that covers all key axes of the technology (material, process, metrology and design) strengthening European leadership in semiconductor technology and demonstrating the compatibility of DSA with manufacturing requirements. Moreover, commercial products have been derived from PLACYD developments: the DSA material suite by ARKEMA and DSA software module by MENTOR.

More information

PLACYD - Pilot Line For Self Assembly Copolymer Delivery (FP7 / ECSEL JU GA 621277)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Monday, 20 August 2018

KETs Impact: Turning rice straw waste into biobased chemical building blocks

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our KETs success story number 8 highlights the WALEVA project funded by the EU under the LIFE / LIFE+ environmental programme and the associated Spanish national research project BIOSOS that demonstrated how the environmental damage from the burning of rice straw (a waste product of rice cultivation) can be eliminated, and the waste used as raw material for the production of the biobased chemical building block levulinic acid with multiple uses in consumer products from pharmaceuticals to biofuels and polymers to food.

WALEVA Technology

Fostering a new value chain producing high value products from lignocellusic wastes

Synchronised combination of Member State and EU funding accelerates breakthrough technology to market

The aim of Técnicas Reunidas’ (TR) WALEVA technology is to transform a lignocellusic waste (rice straw) into levulinic acid, a high value-added product which is currently considered one of the 12 most promising chemical platforms according to the United States Department of Energy. Levulinic acid is a monomer subject to significant industrial demand since, after its chemical transformation, it can potentially be applied to several industrial sectors such as pharmaceuticals, fuels, polymers, food and chemistry in general.

WALEVA technology falls under biotechnology area, which is one the major Key Enabling Technologies defined by the European Commission. WALEVA has reached a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 7 and first steps to commercialisation have been taken.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

Public Private Partnerships are essential for TR’s R&I activities including the development of WALEVA technology. During the initial stages of development TR received public funding from the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) under the CENIT Programme (large, long term, applied research, collaborative projects). After these, TR decided to go a step further in the TRL and applied for a European LIFE+ project to scale-up and demonstrate the viability of the technology in collaboration with the Centre of Scientific and Technological Research of Extremadura (CICYTEX) and the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE).

Impact

WALEVA technology will foster a new value chain that will produce high value products from residues ensuring the economic feasibly for each step in the chain: farmers, waste managers, biobased industries and end-users. This business model puts into practice the concept of Circular Economy and contributes to several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as, Climate Action.

Preliminary results demonstrate the economic feasibility of WALEVA technology for scales starting at the range of 10 000 tons of levulinic acid per year. As for market deployment, levulinic acid is expected to play a key role in the Green Chemistry megatrend.

WALEVA will contribute significantly to improve rice sector sustainability, by reducing CO2 emissions up to an 80% compared to current practice of burning of rice straw. Moreover, WALEVA will contribute to economic development and wealth creation in rural areas that heavily depend on this crop.

More information
EU-Project 'LIFE WALEVA - From Whatever Residue into Levulinic Acid – an innovative way to turn waste into resource' (LIFE13 ENV/ES/001165)

Proyecto CENIT BIOSOS: Biorefinerias Sostenibles (CEN-20091040) financiado par Abengoa Bioenergy New technologies (ABNT) y el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion del Gobierno de Espana

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Thursday, 16 August 2018

KETs Impact: Optimising Resource Efficiency in Process Plants

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our seventh success story looks at the FP7 project MORE that sought to monitor resource efficiency during daily operations of large production plants to influence operational decisions and ensure that plant efficiency is optimised and environmental footprint is constantly minimised.

MORE – Real-time Monitoring and Optimisation of Resource Efficiency in Integrated Processing Plants

Real-time data and online decision support systems enable IMPACT

MORE has brought the computation, visualisation and use of resource efficiency indicators to a new level by evaluating them online in daily operations, visualising them for operators and managers in a transparent fashion and using them in decision support and optimisation

MORE was a STREP (Small and medium scale focused research project) supported by the European Commission in the field of Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies (NMP) aiming at identifying resource efficiency indicators (REIs) that can support operational decisions in processing plants through the use of real-time data and the implementation of dedicated online decision support systems. MORE ran from November 2013 to February 2017.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

Within MORE, the academic and research partners Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain and VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, the solutions providers LeiKon GmbH and S•PACT GmbH, Germany, the industrial partners PETROLEOS DEL NORTE SA (Petronor), Spain, BASF Personal Care and Nutrition GmbH, INEOS Köln GmbH, Germany and LENZING AG, Austria as well as the coordinating consultant inno TSD, France collaborated impressively to develop theoretical results, implement them in practice, publish and standardise them.

Impact

As key results MORE defined principles for the definition of real-time Resource Efficiency Indicators (REIs) and proposed indicators for integrated chemical plants to be used in the daily operations of continuous and batch processes. They significantly extend available indicators as they cover resources overall and are based on the processing of real-time data that is available in the monitoring and control systems and from innovative analytical measurements. They form the basis for necessary steps from monitoring to improving resource efficiency through model-based real-time decision support provided to plant operators and plant managers.

Technical achievements were reported through the implementation in industrial cases. Two examples:

At Petronor the MORE partners optimised the distribution of hydrogen. Petronor estimates an economic gain of between EUR one million to EUR five million per annum equivalent to 3-5% of cost savings and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 3.5%.
At Lenzing, the specific steam consumption together with the overall cycle cost of the evaporator system was optimised with an economic impact of EUR 575 000 to EUR 825 000 per annum coupled with a significant reduction of direct CO2 emissions from the site by about 0.3%.

More information
MORE – ‘Real-time Monitoring and Optimization of Resource Efficiency in Integrated Processing Plants’ (FP7 GA 604068)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’.

Monday, 13 August 2018

KETs Impact: 3D-printing for on-demand production

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

The sixth success story in this summer series features a project that developed a successful business model based on rapid, on-demand manufacture of individual spare parts. Exploitation should significantly reduce warehouse stock and associated costs: DIRECTSPARE. Rapid manufacturing technologies, such as 3D-printing (aka Additive manufacturing), can enable fast manufacture of often-complex parts.

3D-Printing polymer materials

Technology breakthroughs enabled the creation of new business models, investments and jobs

For Evonik DIRECTSPARE was an important project within a longer period of research, development and innovation concerning material for additive manufacturing. Without EU public funding, this project would not have taken place. This would have extended the time to market considerably, resulting in a high risk of being passed by competitors from outside the EU.

Evonik has performed R&D on polymer materials for 3D-printing for about 20 years and is now commercially producing its first 3D-printing materials. A part of the R&D was done within the EU-Project DIRECTSPARE. A growing quantity of product types in every market and every sector of industry require large warehouses to keep stock for spare parts, with corresponding high costs and complex logistics. This emerging problem is caused by continuously decreasing product lifetime, decreasing time-to-market and increasing regulatory affairs. DIRECTSPARE aimed to find a solution using additive manufacturing (AM) technology, enabling economically viable, and on demand manufacturing of spare parts.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

The project consortium consisted of technology providers, engineering companies, equipment producers, material producers, manufacturers, users, management consultants and academia. The DIRECTSPARE project has delivered several business models that allow SMEs to provide local services. Possibilities and challenges for obtaining cost reduction on stocks and warehousing have been identified. The project also learned that to obtain waste reduction and environmental benefits, a life cycle analysis approach needs to be used. One demonstrator part indeed proved that quality improvement, based on use information, can be achieved resulting in lower costs and better margins.

The objective of the DIRECTSPARE business model was for manufacturers to rapidly produce only those spare parts that are required, at a location close to the equipment that needs to be repaired. And also to improve the quality of the spare parts along the way.

The project analysed seven demonstrator parts. The functional and material requirements and the cost model of the original part were taken as the point of departure or baseline. The project team analysed the possibilities to manufacture similar parts using AM. The design, engineering aspects, material selection, production methods, quality issues and business economics of all of these parts were taken into consideration.

Impact

The project delivered several breakthrough innovations on materials, engineering, process management and quality management. Three viable business models were developed. DIRECTSPARE created a significant networking platform for further development of new 3D-printing powders at Evonik. In February 2018 a production plant for polyamide 12 (PA 12) high performance powders, mainly for the additive manufacturing market became operational in Marl, Germany. The PA 12 material is used in automotive and lightweight design as well as in oil and gas pipelines. In addition to current applications in the automotive sector, Evonik is also very well positioned for the future production of hybrid and electric vehicles. Furthermore, the material is used in the medical sector and in 3D-printing. The investment in a new polyamide production plant secured and created around 10 new jobs.

More information
DIRECTSPARE – ‘Strengthening the industries’ competitive position by the development of a logistical and technological system for “high performance spare parts” that is based on on-demand production’ (FP7 GA 213424)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Friday, 10 August 2018

KETs Impact: The SusChem flagship for flexible, continuous chemical production

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our fifth success story features one of SusChem’s original Flagship projects from FP7 - the F3 Factory – and one of its seven case studies. F3 stood for fast, flexible, future factory. Launched in 2009, the €30 million EU-funded project was a major public-private sector initiative under FP7 that sought to define and demonstrate a new paradigm in modular sustainable chemical production technology. You can find more information on all seven F3 Factory case studies here.

Modularised solutions enabling solvent-free process

Improve the Competitiveness of the European Chemical Industry – F3 Factory

Public funding creates cross-sectorial collaboration, breakthrough technology advancement and fast-track-to-market of new products

BASF was part of the consortium behind the “F3 Factory” project. This consortium – consisting of 26 partners from academia and industry – aimed to develop an approach for radical modular process design. This concept enabled significant process intensification and at least 25% less energy consumption.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

The concept of modularised solutions was investigated for different industrial processes. Results from academia were transferred in business case studies and were demonstrated at commercial scale in an open access backbone plant for modular continuous production (INVITE Research Centre). BASF together with Bayer Technology Services have collaborated to demonstrate the concept of multi-product, small-to-medium scale production for high viscous polymers in a solvent-free manufacturing process. This collaboration was supported by Technical University Eindhoven and the University of Paderborn.

Impact

In addition to the technological advancement achieved in this project, the transfer from batch to continuous of a new solvent-free polymerisation process has demonstrated both cost (30% reduction of energy demand) and environmental (100% solvent reduction) impact for the production of highly viscous polymers.
The modularisation concept investigated in the demonstration plant furthermore allows a reduction of investment cost (up to 40%) compared to conventional processes and reduced time-to-market (up to 50%).

More information
F3 Factory 'Flexible, fast and future production processes' (FP7 GA 228867)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

KETs Impact: Creating a paradigm shift in water treatment in the chemical industry

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our fourth success story involves the E4Water: a FP7 project that SusChem and the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP) were directly involved with. The chemical industry provides the highest potential for increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management and the project addressed crucial process industry needs, to overcome bottlenecks and barriers to enable integrated and energy efficient water management. The main objective was to develop, test and validate new integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in the chemical industry that could also be adopted in other major industrial sectors.

Water fit-for-purpose management

Economically and ecologically efficiency in the European Chemical Industry

Public funding brought an Innovation Ecosystem together to take on a significant challenge to develop and demonstrate eco-efficient industry water management

Water is a scarce resource and a key element for the development of our society and economy. The chemical industry, as a water user and solution provider of innovative products, technologies and services, offers significant potential for increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management. To deal with critical challenges, such as the need to reduce water use, wastewater production and energy use, an EU FP7 funded project applied new research and development concepts to boost eco-efficiency and sustainability. E4Water has addressed a wide range of aspects relevant for an efficient integrated industrial water management in practice. Developments provided and demonstrated in the six case studies comprise: utilisation of alternative water sources; treatment of organic and inorganic wastewater streams and concentrates; recovery of valuables and energy from wastewater; linking process water and cooling water networks; combining different scales in water management (process – plant – site – local – regional); introducing tools to optimise water management; Life Cycle Assessment of selected measures; considering regulatory framework aspects. The success of the E4Water project has shown what is possible in the chemical and related process industry sectors in terms of ‘fit for purpose’ water management effectively decoupling industrial production from the use of fresh water, other natural resources and energy. The outcome of E4Water strengthens both, the leadership of the European Water Technology Industry and of position of the European Process Industries.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

The E4Water project did create a complementing consortium with partners from nine EU countries: large chemical enterprises, leading European water sector companies, innovative research and technological development (RTD) centres and universities active in the area of water management. The European Technology Platform for Water (WssTP), the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem), the German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (DECHEMA), the SPIRE Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and water authorities were also linked through their members in the project.

Impact

Economic impact: Significant economic benefit can be gained, for example, operating expenditure (OPEX) was reduced by up to 30% for every m3 of saved freshwater/year (depending on local conditions); or eliminating the need for incineration (e.g. 5 000 tonnes/annum/plant) together with establishing a business case, leading to revenue generation.
Environmental impact:

Reduced fresh water uptake of 40-80% resulting in freshwater savings of ~3 million m³/year in one case.
Reduced wastewater production of 30-80%, with close to 100% (loop closure) in one case and resulting in reduction of waste water production by ~2.5 million m3/year in another case.
Resource recovery, efficiently extracting resources from water and returning these to the prime process or a local increase in resource efficiency by use of algae.
Reduced energy use of up to 20% by using low energy technology, heat recovery, or optimising the integrated process with the use of improved modelling.

Social impact: Water is a key to resource efficiency, climate action and other major societal challenges: Efficient water management is also essential to enhancing resource efficiency, improving energy efficiency and thereby tackling climate change and ensuring the continuing supply of raw materials. The results are also key to implementing process intensification concepts that will form the basis of the chemical and process plants of the future. The E4Water resulted in strengthening the competitive position for Europe's process industry and water industry and keeping Europe an attractive location for industry.

More information
E4Water - Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry (FP7 GA 280756)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Monday, 6 August 2018

KETs Impact: CO2 as a raw material – The Carbon4PUR Project

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our third highlighted success story features the use of CO2 as an alternative feedstock for the chemical industry. The article highlights a number of projects undertaken by Covestro with German government funding and European projects enCO2re, funded by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), and the SPIRE Horizon 2020 project Carbon4PUR that looks to turn industrial waste gases (mixed CO/CO2 streams) from energy intensive steel mills into intermediates for polyurethane plastics used for rigid foams, building insulation, coatings and other consumer products.

Carbon dioxide as a raw material for plastics

Innovative process technology reduces petroleum use

Availability of combined public funding appears crucial to mitigate the high risk of early research and complement own expertise with partnerships along the value chain.

Covestro has been working for many years on the development of technologies to turn CO2 into a valuable resource and for its implementation in making polymers. This “waste” gas is an alternative source of carbon and can substitute fossil raw materials and be used to make building blocks for polyols – a key starting material for polyurethanes. The first breakthrough came when Covestro’s researchers discovered the right catalyst and process for an economically and ecologically efficient reaction. As a first product stemming from the newly developed technology, CO2-based polyols for flexible foam found in mattresses and upholstered furniture are already on the market. Other kinds of products for further applications are under development – for example to obtain chemical building blocks and polymer intermediates for rigid foams and coatings to be applied in building insulation and coatings. The new technology, currently under investigation, is expected to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 by 2020. The next step, after 2022, might be building an industrial plant for the production of CO2-based chemicals at large scale.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

Partnerships between research-based companies and application-oriented research organisations along the value chain are the key to success. With a portfolio of collaboration projects, expertise can be built up starting from low TRL levels. At Covestro, first samples of CO2-based polyols were produced on a mini-plant scale after only three years. Five years later, a demonstration plant with the capacity of 5,000 metric tons/year went on stream. To reach high impact, private investments have been complemented by public funding obtained from both German national sources and EU funds.

Impact

With the new technology, the use of petroleum can already be reduced by up to 20% in the case of CO2-based foams and 25% in case of elastomers. Also, the carbon footprint is better than with conventional processes. In the latest project, substantial reduction of process energy consumption is also expected by as much as 70%. This is an important contribution to sustainability and achieving the circular economy and helps to close the CO2 loop.

More information
Carbon4PUR - Turning industrial waste gases (mixed CO/CO2 streams) into intermediates for polyurethane plastics for rigid foams/building insulation and coatings (Horizon 2020/ SPIRE GA 768919)

enCO2re flagship project CroCO2PETs (Climate-KIC / European Institute of Innovation and Technology)

r+impuls Production Dreams (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research FKZ 033R150)

CO2Plus Dream Resource (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research FKZ 033RC002)

MatRessource Dream Polyols (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research FKZ 03XP0052)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

Thursday, 2 August 2018

KETs Impact: The SUNLIQUID® and LIGNOFLAG Projects

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Our second highlighted success story is built around the BBI JU Horizon 2020 project LINGOFLAG that aims to optimise the efficiency and increase the capacity of Clariant’s unique flagship plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues (such as straw) based on its sunliquid® technology as a significant step towards a biobased, circular economy in Europe.

Agricultural residues into biobased chemicals

Innovative process technology reduces Green House Gas (GHG) emissions

The realisation of a first-of-its-kind flagship production plant using a new technology is always a high-risk project with significant higher costs compared to subsequent plants. The support through public-private funded projects helps to de-risk the investment in a production plant and leverages private capital in this important industry sector.

Clariant’s sunliquid® process converts lignocellulosic agricultural residues, such as cereal straw, into cellulosic ethanol or other biobased chemicals in a way that is highly efficient, economic, energy-neutral and sustainable. Sunliquid® contributes to the political objectives of reducing GHG emissions in the transport sector, to support the transformation from a fossil-based economy to a biobased, circular economy through creation of green jobs, especially in rural areas, mobilisation of currently underutilised agricultural residues, boosts to local economies and creation of additional business opportunities, and creation of a sustainable and competitive source of domestic renewable energy for the EU. Sunliquid® is a biotechnological process and hence contributes to the KET biotechnology.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved?

The sunliquid® process was developed by Clariant for more than 10 years to overcome major technological hurdles like the need for high yields, low energy consumption, and a stable and economic process of cellulosic ethanol production. During this time the process was developed from Technology Readiness level (TRL) 4 to TRL 8. The maturity of the process was developed in pilot plant scale in Munich, Germany. As a subsequent step within the process development the technology was further up-scaled to demonstration scale with Clariant’s pre-commercial plant in Straubing, Germany. This plant is operational since June 2012 and successfully demonstrated the process in an operational and integrated environment. Clariant’s sunliquid® technology is now ready for a flagship production plant for lignocellulosic ethanol.

Various development steps and parts of the sunliquid® process received and still receive funding. The funded projects on Bavarian, National and European level as well the partnership with the region Straubing enabled Clariant to develop the technology and still supports the proof of techno-economic viability of the sunliquid® technology at commercial scale.

Impact

Clariant is investing in a new commercial-scale plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol made from agricultural residues, based on the sunliquid® technology, in the southwestern part of Romania. This undertaking will have the following impact:

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of up to 95%
Clariant investment in southwestern Romania of approx. EUR 150 million
Number of jobs: 80 direct and 300 indirect. 800–900 during construction phase in an underdeveloped region of the country with unemployment rates of 20%
Additional income for farmers and local businesses: >EUR 20 million
Additional tax generated in the region: >EUR 1 million annually for the next 20 years
Regional Development: Industrial plant using agricultural residue as feedstock in a strong agricultural economy along with energy integration of actors along the whole value chain

More information
SUNLIQUID - Large scale demonstration plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol (FP7 GA number 322386)

LIGNOFLAG - Commercial flagship plant for bioethanol production (Horizon 2020/ BBI JU GA number 709606)

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’