The BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) has published its 2019 Call for proposals under Horizon 2020. This sixth call will provide a further
EUR 135 million of funding to boost the development of the EU’s biobased
industries sector. The call is built around four strategic orientations:
Feedstock, Process, Products, and Market uptake and continues the BBI JU’s
objective of accelerating the development of new sustainable value chains from
biomass feedstock supply via efficient processing, to the acceptance and
application of bio-based products in end-markets.
The 2019 call identifier is H2020-BBI-JTI-2019 and contains 21
topic areas previously outlined in the BBI JU Annual Work Plan 2019. This document gives the full texts
of the call that include 10 Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs), 7 Innovation
Actions (IAs) - specifically 4 Demonstration (DEMO) calls and 4 Flagship (FLAG)
calls - and 4 Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs) under the Horizon 2020 Framework
Programme.
The deadline for submission of
proposals is 4 September 2019, 17:00 CET, with proposal evaluations taking
place during October and November and results being sent to applicants
hopefully during December 2019.
Proposals to the Call 2019 can be
submitted through the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal - SEDIA (former
known as the Participant Portal), the official EU funding communication
channel, that gives an extensive overview of all Call information, such as Call
documentation, how to get support regarding intellectual property, IT, and partner
searches etc.
Via the BBI JU’s Partnering
Platform, potential participants and consortia members can create free,
online profiles that enable a better interaction with other potential BBI JU
Call applicants.
Applicants interested in
receiving professional support or advice at the national level can get in
contact with the appropriate member of the BBI network
of National Contact Points.
BBI Info Day
On 12 April the BBI JU Info Day
2019 is taking place in the Charlemagne Building, Brussels. Plenary presentations on Europe's biobased
sector and the development of the global bioeconomy will be followed by an outline of the BBI JU 2019 Work Programme from Philippe Mengal, Executive Director of the BBI JU. Information will be provided about the BBI JU initiative and all other aspects
of the 2019 Call process
including details of the proposal submission and evaluation processes.
After lunch, the BBI JU
Networking event, will help participants to build their networks and find
potential partners for the BBI JU Call for proposals.
And throughout the day,
participants will have the opportunity to speak to representatives from BBI
JU's founding partners and Member States as well as exchange views with
entities in synergy with the BBI JU, including SusChem. The BBI JU's Programme
Office staff will also be available to answer questions about the Call process
and procedure.
SusChem was created with a mission to revitalise and inspire European chemistry and industrial biotechnology research, development and innovation in a sustainable way to respond to pressing societal challenges. Industrial biotechnology has always been a significant key enabling technology for SusChem and the Bioeconomy a priority policy area. And this continues as the platform works towards a new strategic innovation and research agenda for Horizon Europe. EuropaBio was one of the founding partners of the platform. SusChem News recently caught up with Joanna Dupont-Inglis, Secretary-General of EuropaBio to get her views on SusChem’s achievements and what the future may hold for the platform. Joanna has been a tremendous supporter of SusChem and its initiatives for many years and has recently stepped down from the SusChem board. Agnes Borg, EuropaBio's Director of Industrial Biotechnology, is now the organisation's representative on the SusChem management board.
Joanna has worked in Brussels for almost 20 years for a variety of industry groups, including CEFIC sector groups. A UK/Irish national with a background in Environmental Science and European Studies, she became directly involved with SusChem when she was appointed as Communications Manager with EuropaBio in 2009. Her role increased when she became Director of Industrial Biotech in April 2011. In 2016 Joanna was appointed as chair of the EU Bioeconomy Stakeholders Panel and since September 2018 Joanna has been EuropaBio’s Secretary General.
SN: How has SusChem been for you?
JDI: Being part of SusChem over the last ten years has been a great privilege, having given me the opportunity to work with experts, sometimes from quite different perspectives, who share a collective passion for the potential of chemistry and biotech.
The platform has grown and integrated a wider European community of industry, technology platforms and academia that is working to provide sustainable solutions to European challenges. SusChem successfully expanded the breadth and range of people involved in its work through its stakeholder engagement events encouraging cross-disciplinary work, helping to form consortia and reaching out along value chains to other organisations and initiatives. The network of SusChem National Technology Platforms, incorporating 17 countries across Europe, has been really significant here too.
A big success for SusChem has also been its role to capture and articulate the benefits that sustainable chemistry and biotech to many of the major challenges facing our society and to global targets such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It has done this by boosting awareness and visibility of research and innovation initiatives in sustainable biotech and chemistry.
SN: What do you see as the main ‘concrete’ achievements of the ETP?
JDI: The establishment of the SPIRE Public Private Partnership (SPIRE) and the BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) are major achievements which SusChem helped work towards establishing. Many members of the SusChem board and the wider SusChem community were active and effective in advocating for the solutions and advantages that could be delivered via these two PPPs.
It’s really rewarding to see the hundreds of projects, focused on renewability, resource efficiency and climate change mitigation, that are now being delivered through these two initiatives and the valuable role of SusChem in helping to contribute to these two strategic research and innovation frameworks. The research and innovation outcomes from SPIRE and BBI are also demonstrating huge value-added potential for sustainable chemistry and industrial biotechnology by boosting jobs and growth in Europe while also ensuring environmental benefits.
The PPPs are helping Europe to remain at the cutting edge of technologies in these and other areas. They are bringing people together in new and novel partnerships and establishing links that continue beyond the projects themselves.
SN: How has SusChem influenced research and innovation activities in the EU working towards a functioning bioeconomy?
SusChem’s research and innovation agendas have also been a major help here in laying the foundations of the bioeconomy by highlighting relevant technology priorities . SusChem has had a direct input through its own ‘SusChem inspired’ projects in FP7 and Horizon 2020 and also in its influence in supporting the agenda for the BBI’s work programme.
It’s work on sustainable chemistry applications, in topics such as renewable feedstock, holds great potential for benefiting rural and coastal communities through the development of their local and regional bioeconomy in terms of jobs and growth.
SusChem has also been impactful in advocating the link between resource efficiency and the bioeconomy, providing the basis for synergies with the circular economy.
SN: How do you see the platform’s role developing in Horizon Europe?
JDI: The new SusChem’s SIRA, to be published in light of Horizon Europe, will be really important here. On a personal level, I’m excited to see how in the future SusChem will change the perception of CO2 and CH4 from being ‘’problem GHGs’’ to valuable feedstocks. Although the exact nature and functioning of Horizon Europe’s missions are still to be clarified, their raison d’etre is to use research and innovation to deliver tangible benefits that citizens are looking for to provide a healthier, more sustainable future for them and generations to come. Consumers are becoming more and more engaged in sustainability issues and, therefore, in what they buy and use. SusChem could have a role here through engaging with the public to showcase what can be achieved; demonstrating the options and impact that sustainable chemistry and industrial biotechnology can deliver.
The platform also has a role in encouraging academia to provide the courses and resources to ensure we are giving people the right skills and knowledge to enable a more sustainable society.
SusChem is very well placed, thanks to its collective expertise, to contribute to these missions. Indeed, it is hard to imagine how many of the proposed missions could succeed without input from biotech and sustainable chemistry. SusChem can deliver on these urgent needs and will continue to play a key role in the movement to ensure society uses our natural resources as sustainability as possible going forward for the benefit of everyone.
The final event of the Horizon 2020 project RoadToBio will take place on Monday 18 February 2019 in Brussels. This stakeholder workshop event will present and discuss the project’s ‘Roadmap for the Chemical Industry in Europe towards a Bioeconomy’.
Over the last 18 months, the RoadToBio consortium has developed suggestions on how to produce 25% of organic chemical products in Europe as biobased goods by 2030. The results of the project have been achieved in close cooperation with many stakeholders from industry, associations, NGOs, and academia.
At this final workshop, the project will share the insights that have been gained and discuss the results of the analysis, the proposed actions and the messages that can help to facilitate the participatory development of Europe's bioeconomy going forward.
Objectives
There are three main objectives to the workshop.
Firstly, to present the analysis on the selected nine product groups with a high potential to switch from a fossil-based to a biobased production pathway and to discuss their market opportunities. These nine products groups are: Agrochemicals, Adhesives, Cosmetics, Lubricants, Man-Made fibres, Paints and Coatings, Plastics, Solvents, and Surfactants. Participants to the workshop will be able to choose two breakout sessions covering specific aspects of each product group.
Secondly, to discuss general barriers that may hinder the development of Europe’s bioeconomy and the recommended actions from the project to overcome these.
And, thirdly, to explain how biobased products could be communicated better and what tools and messages can be used to better engage stakeholders and the public
How can the chemical industry in Europe meet the challenges in global markets while becoming more sustainable at the same time? RoadToBio is a Horizon2020 project funded via the Biobased Industries JU that aims to pave the way for the European chemical industry towards a higher biobased portfolio and competitive success based on the benefits offered by the bioeconomy. The Project will deliver a roadmap for the chemical industry that will specify benefits as well as barriers towards a biobased economy to meet societal needs in 2030.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 second highlighted success story is built around the BBI JUHorizon 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
The RoadToBio project is developing different business cases to show the possibilities for greater use of biobased feedstock and materials in the chemical industry, the barriers which hinder market uptake for biobased products and how to overcome them. as part of this the project conducted a webinar in mid-July that is now available for all. Nine new biobased opportunities identified for the Chemical Industry
The BBI-JU funded Horizon 2020 project RoadToBio has as its main main goal the development of a Roadmap to show the path to increase the bio-based share up to 25% in the chemical industry by 2030.
Survey on key barriers and hurdles on biobased products – what is your opinion?
Another feature of the RoadToBioproject is the involvement of stakeholders from the chemical industry, academia, NGOs as well as governmental bodies from the very start of the project. Currently the project is on the barriers which hinder market uptake for biobased products.
For this the project has developed a survey to give the different stakeholders the opportunity to share their opinions and to communicate them with greater impact. The project is seeking your input and opinion on significant barriers to biobased products that hinder market uptake.
Do you want to be part on the journey to a bioeconomy-based future? If so, complete the survey by the 31 August and return it back to the RoadToBio consortium. More information on the survey is available here.
More on RoadToBio
How can the chemical industry in Europe meet the challenges in global markets while becoming more sustainable at the same time? RoadToBio is a Horizon2020 project funded via the Biobased Industries JU that aims to pave the way for the European chemical industry towards a higher biobased portfolio and competitive success based on the benefits offered by the bioeconomy. The Project will deliver a roadmap for the chemical industry that will specify benefits as well as barriers towards a biobased economy to meet societal needs in 2030.
Registration is now open for the second RoadToBio stakeholder workshop on biobased opportunities for the chemical industry. The workshop is organised by the RoadToBio consortium and will take place on Tuesday 19 June 2018 - the day before the SusChem Annual Stakeholder event - in Brussels. The workshop will introduce and discuss the biobased opportunities identified within the project for the chemical industry to increase its biobased portfolio.
Over the past year, RoadToBio has identified opportunities to switch fossil process chains in the chemical industry to biobased alternative methods. For this purpose, the technical side was analysed and complemented with studies on public perception and regulatory barriers. In this way nine 'sweet spots' were identified, which are to be worked out in detail in a roadmap to show the possibilities for how biobased alternatives can be included in the portfolio of the European chemical industry.
The aim of the workshop is to invite participants to take a closer look at these sweet spots, the methods the project has used for their identification and to discuss what is important to develop a new process.
How can the chemical industry in Europe meet the challenges in global markets while becoming more sustainable at the same time? RoadToBio is a Horizon2020 project and funded via the Biobased Industries JU that aims to pave the way for the European chemical industry towards a higher biobased portfolio and competitive success based on the benefits offered by the bioeconomy. The Project will deliver a roadmap for the chemical industry that will specify benefits as well as barriers towards a biobased economy to meet societal needs in 2030.
Recently, many successful production and subsequent uses of biobased building blocks have started up. However, their production and applications are limited. Aside from technical and operational challenges, there is a plethora of hurdles in the fields of regulation and acceptance hindering the chemical industry to increase its biobased portfolio.
The roadmap developed in RoadToBio will contain two main components: first, an analysis of the most promising opportunities (‘sweet spots’) for the chemical industry to increase its biobased portfolio as well as the technological and commercial barriers and the hurdles in regulations and acceptance by society, governing bodies and the industry itself, and second, a strategy, action plan and engagement guide to overcome the existing and anticipated barriers and hurdles as mentioned above.
The roadmap for the chemicals industry to a bioeconomy will describe the actions that need to be done by all stakeholders to achieve the overarching objectives, set out over time, showing inter-dependencies between them. The overarching objectives are to achieve the full exploitation of the bioeconomy within the EU, specifically aiming for a 30% share of biobased products in the chemical industry by 2030.
The BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) has just announced its fifth Call under Horizon 2020: H2020-BBI-JTI-2018. With a total budget of € 115 million, the 2018 Call is built around four strategic orientations: Feedstock, Process, Products, and Market uptake. This new Call moves away from a strict biomass feedstock ‘push’ approach based on historic value chains, towards a demand for biomass that enables processing in order to respond adequately to a ‘pull’ from end markets.
A total of 21 topics are included in the 2018 Call with 11 Research and Innovation Action (RIA) topics, 3 Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) and 7 Innovation Actions (5 DEMOs and 2 Flagships) while novel eligibility criteria have also been introduced.
BBI JU’s current project portfolio is well-balanced across the types of actions deployed, relevant value chains and has achieved an excellent SME participation of 38%. Like previous BBI JU Calls, the 2018 Call respects the Horizon 2020 principles of openness, transparency and excellence.
Commenting on the 2018 Call launch Philippe Mengal, BBI JU Executive Director said: "All of us in BBI JU, together with our founding partners the European Commission and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) are proud to see the development and the geographical spread of the projects covering all corners of our continent. Every Call is a step closer towards the creation of EU’s biobased sector and it is exciting to see sectors such as the primary one to start developing such a strong interest and presence on the field. This is a clear indication that more actors see the potential, the creation of a sustainable and competitive bio-based sector has for Europe and its citizens".
More information about the 2018 Call will be provided during the BBI JU Info Day on 17 April in Brussels. The morning sessions will provide information about the BBI JU initiative and all aspects of the Call process. While in the afternoon participants will have the opportunity to hold face-to-face meetings in a brokerage/ partnering session.
The BBI JU
The BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). Operating under Horizon 2020, this EU body is driven by a Vision and Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) developed by the industry. The initiative is a direct result of SusChem activities.
The BBI JU is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential and contributing to a sustainable circular economy, by turning biological residues and wastes (from agro-food, forestry and municipal) into greener everyday products, through innovative technologies and biorefineries, which are at the heart of the bioeconomy.
The BBI JU is the largest and most ambitious initiative in the EU to develop competitive and sustainable biobased industries. The ambition that drove its creation was to bring about the systemic change needed to develop a European biobased industry allowing investment to remain in Europe: creating new jobs and providing clear value for all EU citizens.
To do good business means finding the right partners. The BioLinX Online Brokerage is an innovation exchange and a matchmaking platform serving academia, SMEs and large companies. If you are looking for new business partners, exciting inventions, new products and services or investments, BioLinX will connect you with the right people from the European bioeconomy community.
The third BioLinX Online Partnering and Brokerage Event takes place on 25-26 April 2018. Pitch your products, services and technologies and make new contacts in live bilateral online meetings in this international two-day event.
Matchmaking has never been easier
Upload your profile and cooperation offer on the brokerage platform.
Present your business ideas and projects in live bilateral online meetings to CEOs, business developers, technology scouts and potential investors.
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Learn about the latest offers & requests of leading universities, research centres and SMEs.
Identify promising innovators, contact them and let BioLinX automatically schedule your online meetings.
What are the advantages?
Saves time and costs.
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Enables experts from all over Europe to participate.
Makes it quick and easy to pinpoint offers and requests.
What is BioLinx?
The Horizon 2020 project BioLinX supports participants in FP7 and Horizon 2020 projects to commercialise their innovative ideas and connects them to markets and regional networks. Don't let your projects' research and development results be shelved- translate them into innovativebioeconomy solutions and products!
The SuperBIO Horizon 2020 project is getting close to reaching its goal of developing 30 cross-border, cross-sectorial value chains in the biobased economy. The initiative has a target to develop 30 new disruptive biobased value chains together with EU SMEs through provision of 10 different accessible professional innovation services to SMEs at affordable prices.
Established in 2016, SuperBIO has been such a success that, only twelve months into the project, 20 value chains have already been developed. The project expects to reach its goal before the end of the year! New applicants should therefore hurry up to become one of the 10 new value chains that remain to be developed and supported by SuperBIO.
The newly established value chains in SuperBIO are very diverse and include biogas production, food, horticultural and agricultural waste valorisation, bioplastics production, and production of high-value compounds such as crop-protection products, fragrances or food additives.
SuperBIO is a truly Europe-wide project, attracting SMEs from Belgium, Finland, France, Israel, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway and Turkey.
Innovation services
SMEs participating in the value chains can each receive innovation services to a value of €60 000, with 75% of the support funded through the project. The 20 developed value chains are now gaining more insight into feedstock and market information, life-cycle analysis (LCA), techno-economics, regulatory barriers, business planning and access to investors, subsidy strategy, intellectual property (IP) protection, and proof-of-concept or scale-up issues. With its innovation support services, SuperBIO fills a tangible need for EU bioeconomy SMEs and gives them a head start to get closer to their markets.
SuperBIO can only support a limited number of SMEs, but the project still welcomes applications for new value chains from industrial stakeholders. Hurry up and take advantage of this exclusive opportunity to get a boost for your biobased business.
Biomass is a wonderful resource that can be transformed into chemicals, biobased materials, food and feed ingredients or energy. However, adaptation and optimisation of transformation processes and technologies remains a real challenge to fully valorise all biomass fractions in a true circular economy approach.
In the context of the circular economy, the need for an optimal valorisation of renewable resources, and of Industry 4.0 considerations BIOKET will be an excellent opportunity for all experts to discuss and share their experiences with emerging and key enabling technologies for the bioeconomy. Inspiring programme
An inspiring and targeted conference programme has been developed, which will tackle topics such as advanced and innovative biomass pre-treatment; technologies for biomass conversion and functionalization; extraction, separation and purification of biomass; process modelling and analytical methods and tools; innovative tools; design of bioprocesses, advanced fermentation.
Advanced and innovative biomass pre-treatment – Physical and thermochemical pre-treatment – Densification – Fractionation
Technologies for biomass conversion and functionalization
Extraction, separation and purification of biomass
Process modelling and analytical methods and tools - in situ characterization techniques
Innovative tools: Enzymatic and metabolic engineering, synthetic biology and bio-nanotechnology
Design of bioprocesses and advanced fermentation
In addition, a vast area of 1 500 square metres will host the BIOKET exhibition area and there will be ample opportunity for networking and finding new biobased business leads.
The BIOKET conference itself takes place on 7 and 8 March with a BBI and Bioeconomy Horizon 2020 project information and Brokerage pre-event scheduled for Tuesday 6 March.
Registration for the conference opens on 3 September, but you can find more information on the BIOKET website, where you can also subscribe to the BIOKET newsletter to receive updates on the event.
The chemical industry’s ambition is to play a leading role in the transformation of the European economy to a sustainable low-carbon and circular economy by creating innovative climate and energy friendly solutions, both for its own processes and for many other industries through chemical products. A new report 'Low carbon energy and feedstock for the European chemical industry' from SusChem founding partners Dechema and released via the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) explores how the chemical industry can become carbon neutral by 2050.
The Dechema study analyses the technological options available for the chemical industry and outlines the conditions necessary to facilitate the transition of the European chemical industry to carbon neutrality.
As well as giving a first full overview of all available technologies for the main chemical production processes, it describes what is needed to refurbish the industrial base we know today in Europe, in a world of shale gas and low oil prices:
Abundant low-carbon electricity in much larger volumes and at competitive prices;
Availability of alternative feedstocks (e.g. bio-based raw materials, CO2 or industrial waste gases).
An enabling fiscal structure to modernise ageing production facilities and equipment or build new plants;
Government or public-private support to scale-up technologies and share investment risk for those technologies that are first of a kind or high risk
Innovation and research into new chemical technologies that help overcome these challenges.
Enabling business models to enhance cross-sectoral collaboration to find sustainable ways to re-use CO2
Role for SusChem and SPIRE
The report concludes that, in order to achieve the EU’s 2050 objectives, an ambitious research and innovation programme will be essential to improve the potential of required advanced technologies, and public-private-partnership efforts will be critical to enable fast deployment and risk sharing for the investments needed.
In addition, industrial symbiosis opportunities and sustainable materials recycling options should be further explored in order to improve energy and resource efficiency beyond sectorial boundaries.
Clearly these areas where SusChem and SPIRE are currently working hard to advance sustainable chemistry and sustainable process industry technologies.
Energy intensive
The chemical industry has already halved its energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, but producing chemicals remains one of the most energy intensive industrial processes. Making the sector carbon neutral while retaining its competitiveness in a full circular economy in Europe is a significant challenge, which cannot be solved by the industry on its own.
In an interview with Politico Energy Marco Mensink, Cefic Director General, said that the fact that the industry is looking at how to cut carbon emissions shows that it’s embracing the need for change, “I think we have always taken the position that we are very energy-intensive and that there are huge challenges to become energy neutral,” he said. “But this is a different stance.” Why? Because the attitude of the sector is changing, because the Paris climate agreement has become a reality, and because time is ticking, he added.
The main findings of the report are that the implementation of the technologies investigated in the study would allow for a very significant reduction of CO2 emissions in 2050 (up to 210 Mt annually under the maximum scenario). And including the production and use of fuels related to the pathways considered in the study, the additional CO2 abatement potential in 2050 exceeds the chemical sector’s current emissions even under the intermediate scenario.
Commenting on the report, Marco Mensink said: “Many promising low-carbon technologies are available at a relatively advanced stage of development. The industry will need to find the way to overcome the investment, raw material and energy challenges for them to be implemented on a large scale in Europe.”
Kurt Wagemann, Executive Director of DECHEMA added: “The implementation of the technologies investigated in this study would allow for a very significant reduction of CO2 emissions of the chemical industry by 2050 even under the least ambitious scenario.”
However, such a transition to carbon neutrality will entail huge challenges for the European chemical industry including availability of low carbon energy, availability of alternative feedstock, investments in new assets that far exceed the typical level of investments in the recent years, uncompetitive production costs.
The report
The report Low carbon energy and feedstock for the European chemical industry looks into technology options and pathway scenarios to ensure a low-carbon, yet competitive European chemical industry by 2050. The study focuses on the main chemical building blocks used in upstream large volume production processes (ammonia, methanol, ethylene, propylene, chlorine and the aromatics benzene, toluene and xylene), which represent about two-thirds of all GHG emissions in the chemical sector.
How can the chemical industry in Europe meet the challenges of global markets while at the same time becoming more sustainable? RoadToBio is an EU-funded project under Horizon 2020 that aims to pave the way for the European chemical industry to embrace a higher biobased portfolio and more competitive success. Despite considerable efforts over the past few years, the production and application of biobased chemicals is still limited. The roadmap developed in RoadToBio will specify the benefits for the chemical industry of moving from a fossil-based industry towards the bioeconomy to meet the societal needs of 2030.
Today (6 July) the project’s first expert workshop is taking place in Brussels to initiate a discussion on the biobased ‘sweet spots for the chemical industry and develop a list of criteria for biobased products and/ or the shift towards a bioeconomy in the chemical sector from the viewpoint of diverse stakeholders.
The results of the project, a Coordination and Support Action (CSA), first announced in the BBI JU 2016 work programme, will be of critical interest to SusChem stakeholders. The SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) focuses on a sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy as a priority and the outcomes of the project will inform future revisions of the SusChem SIRA.
The roadmap will consist of two main components: an analysis of the most promising opportunities (the ‘sweet spots’) for the chemical industry to increase its biobased portfolio, and a strategy, action plan and engagement guide to overcome the existing and anticipated barriers and hurdles.
The analytical part of the project will take into account feedstock, technologies and markets as well as regulatory issues, societal needs, consumer acceptance and communication. Business cases will be explored that cover new feedstock for the chemical industry, new intermediates for and by the chemical industry, as well as new end-products.
The business cases will be analysed in detail to understand the market potential, the different up- and downstream actors in the value chain as well as the benefits for society based on techno-economic and life cycle assessments.
30% biobased share
The outcomes of the analysis will be used to formulate a strategy, action plan and engagement guide for the chemical industry. They will describe the actions that need to be taken by all stakeholders to achieve the objective of a 30% share of biobased products in the chemical industry by 2030.
To maintain a realistic perspective and gain the support and commitment of the key players, representatives of the European chemical industry and other stakeholders will be involved in the project from the very beginning, providing input and feedback.
This means the roadmap will be developed in consultation with stakeholders, and disseminated to a wide audience. Furthermore, RoadToBio will bring together different parts of the chemical industry, society, and governing bodies in order to start a dialogue and to create a platform where this action plan can unfold to its full potential.
The consortium of this two-year project that started in May 2017 consists of SusChem founding member DECHEMA eV., BTG Biomass Technology Group BV, E4tech (UK) Ltd., and the nova-Institut.
#suschem2017 brought together senior players from the
chemical and biotechnology industries, academia, research technology
organisations (RTOs) and EU institutions to address common challenges and
debate priorities crucial to the sustainability of the European chemical and
biotechnology innovation sectors.
Sustainable,
circular, responsible
In an opening plenary presentation Peter Dröll,
Director for Industrial Technologies at the European Commission DG Research and
Innovation (below) stated that “Our common
future must be sustainable, circular and responsible” - concepts that SusChem and
its activities are very much aligned with.
Dröll described some
current thinking on aspects of FP9 including the concept of ‘missions’ and
called on all attendees to make the collective case for investing more in EU research
and innovation in the future - a theme that was repeated by many speakers
during the day. In particular, the key to ensuring future funding was
demonstrating the societal impact of current funding initiatives for research
and innovation.
In his plenary address SusChem Chairman Dr Klaus Sommer stressed the need for a continuing role for
industrial leadership in FP9 projects and the need for adequate funding to
bridge the innovation ‘valley of death’ and ensure commercialisation. He noted
SusChem’s key messages in its contribution to the Horizon 2020 consultation: in
particular the value of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), such as SPIRE and
the BBI JU, as instruments to promote competitiveness.
SusChem – a success story
SusChem is a clear
success. Sommer stated that “85% of the input on topics found in SusChem’s Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA) was now reflected in Horizon
2020 programmes”. This was a significant impact of which all SusChem
stakeholders should be proud!
He also highlighted
the swift success of the SPIRE PPP, a SusChem inspired initiative, in raising
some €750 million of private funding for its projects. He said that “SPIRE is
on its way and is already mission driven with a set of clear key performance
indicators (KPIs) for Europe.”
Underlying this success is the plain fact that SusChem – and
sustainable chemistry in general – is providing the solutions for the
challenges that society faces across areas from climate change and energy
transition to high performance materials to enable a circular economy and
digitisation of the chemical and other process industries.
Breakout sessions
Participants split into three parallel breakout sessions all
focused on various aspects of the future FP9 programme. The sessions consisted
of short presentations on the topic area and then an interactive session with
moderated small groups discussing the topic and providing insights and
solutions. The results of the session were shared in an afternoon plenary
session.
Breakout Session 1 looked to define success factors
for EU funded projects to optimise innovation impact and value for Europe. BreakoutSession 2 examined the role of SMEs as a driver of the EU innovation
ecosystems and how we can stimulate market-creating innovation through SME
funding. Breakout Session 3 looked at shaping funding
instruments to accelerate innovation and competitiveness in Europe.
Panel discussion
In the afternoon SusChem stakeholders received updates from
the SusChem NTP network and feedback from three morning workshop sessions on
FP9. These had focused on aspects of boosting innovation impact, the role of
SMEs and appropriate framework instruments.
The culmination of the FP9 debate was a high-level panel
discussion that examined how to accelerate innovation and deliver impact in the
forthcoming framework programme. The discussion was moderated by Cefic
Executive Director for Research and Innovation Pierre Barthelemy with
contributions from the European Commission and key SusChem stakeholders
including large industry, small companies, research and technology
organisations and PPPs.
Kurt Vandenberghe, Director for Policy Development and
Coordination at the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation, opened
the discussion by describing the important role that SusChem and other European
technology platforms can play in shaping FP9. He said that there are
calls not to change anything from Horizon 2020 but there is a need to balance
change and continuity to maximise impact. For industry Ulrich Küsthardt,
SusChem Board Member and CIO at Evonik, insisted that continued public funding
for larger companies should continue. The executive director of SPIRE Àngels
Orduña explained the added value of PPPs, such as SPIRE, saying that the
public-private partnership is able to gather together complete innovation
ecosystems, connecting existing systems and networks, increasing the
participation of industry both large and small. From the research perspective,
Professor Michael Matlosz from the French National Research Agency (ANR) stated
that FP9 must maintain the research competitive edge that previous programmes
had delivered and that the EU should continue to base its strategies on its
strengths. Muriel Attané of EARTO felt that more pilot and demonstration
projects would be needed and we should be building a technology infrastructure
that would be appropriate for decades to come. Iryna Sukhotska from
Spanish SME Biopolis stressed that all sizes of companies are important in the
innovation ecosystem and partnerships with large chemical industry are crucial
for small companies.
The debate highlighted also the need to preserve the right
balance between research and innovation in FP9, as well as the industrial eco
system of funding for small and large companies. In particular a clear narrative
demonstrating the impact of sustainable chemistry innovation to help citizens
and politicians to understand its value to society must be developed – and
fast!
FP9 – our mission
From the
#suschem2017 discussions it is clear that SusChem needs to think about the
concept of missions in FP9: what do we want missions to be and how can we
develop our vision for mission targets. We also need to support the success of
PPPs in Horizon 2020, such as SPIRE and BBI, and their ability to operate along
the whole innovation value chain – an essential element to deliver impact.
FP9 needs to be more
inclusive for new member states, but also ensure that successful innovation is
the paramount objective to achieve sustainable jobs and growth in Europe. More
simplification of procedures in FP9 was desirable, but we need to conserve what
was good in Horizon 2020.
Better alignment
between EU programmes and national level initiatives is also needed, and
funding for industry large and small should be continued to ensure a healthy industrial
innovation ecosystem that can deliver new goods and services to the market.
SusChem’s new brand
Earlier in the day the
new SusChem branding was presented by the SusChem Communication team who
invited delegates to “step into your sustainable future!”. The new branding
underlines the message that “We are all SusChem” and that together all
stakeholders should stand as strong ambassadors for the SusChem brand.
During the day
stakeholders got an in-depth brand experience with visual, taste, auditory,
smell and touch elements. In addition other brand experiences included an
on-site animator and a wish tree (see below), where stakeholders were encouraged to write
down their one main wish for FP9 with one lucky delegate’s wish winning an
iWatch in a draw at the end of the day.
Thank you Klaus!
At the end of the
day SusChem board Chairman Klaus Sommer (below) received a standing ovation from the
delegates after announcing that, due to new responsibilities, he would be
standing down from the SusChem board later in the year. Dr Sommer has been a
significant figure in SusChem since its formation and he said that it had been
wonderful to work with so many committed people and was proud that SusChem had
achieved so much. We will miss you Klaus!
To help build a resource-efficient, circular and bio-based economy, the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) has just launched its new Strategic and Research Agenda (SIRA). The SIRA identifies the activities needed to speed up the development of sustainable and competitive biobased industries in Europe – an aim that SusChem wholly supports and has helped to foster for many years.
The SIRA reflects BIC’s ambition to transform Europe into a world leading bioeconomy. The updated SIRA addresses the technological and innovation challenges facing the biobased industries, takes a ‘multi-value-chain’ approach and integrates new feedstocks such as aquatic-based sources, biowaste (including from waste from food processing) and the use of carbon dioxide (CO2). The document also considers the aims of BIC’s newest members, as well as technology and market developments since the first BIC SIRA was adopted in 2013.
The new BIC SIRA identifies the research and innovation actions needed to deliver tangible and increasingly ambitious environmental, social and economic benefits by 2020 and also 2030.
Biobased value chains are at the heart of the SIRA, which is founded on four key pillars:
Fostering a supply of sustainable biomass feedstock for both existing and new value chains
Optimising efficient processing for integrated biorefineries through research, development and innovation (R&D&I)
Developing innovative biobased products for identified market applications
Creating and accelerating market uptake of biobased products and applications
The biobased industries in Europe have been evolving rapidly. Driven by business and consumer demand for greener products and by policy developments such as the European Bioeconomy Strategy and equivalent strategies in Member States, they have started to invest in technological advancements and deployment. They will receive a further boost from the increased efficiency of innovative technologies and their upscaling to commercial levels, and from the new policy focus on the circular economy and decarbonisation that initiatives such as the European circular economy package and COP21 have brought.
Circular bioeconomy
John Bell, Director for Bioeconomy, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission said:
“The latest SIRA is designed to attract new industrial sectors and stimulate closer collaboration between different industries. It envisages the creation of novel value chains, making it easier for the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) to fully support the development of a circular bioeconomy, while enabling Europe to achieve its climate goals and the objectives of the Juncker Plan to boost investment, sustainable growth and job creation.”
Mat Quaedvlieg, Vice President Strategic Business Projects at Sappi, and Chair of the BIC and BBI JU Governing Boards said:
“Since the start of the BBI JU, new value chains have emerged using feedstocks from the food processing sector, the aquatic-based sector, and even biowaste and CO2. More and more industrial sectors are collaborating on BBI JU projects, seizing the opportunity to create value from waste and side streams. This growth will speed up the development of an innovative, sustainable and competitive European economy, in line with the European Bioeconomy Strategy.”
Dynamic and sustainable
Dynamic and sustainable biobased industries in Europe can deliver many environmental, economic and social benefits. They can help to meet EU objectives in areas ranging from economic growth, job creation, the circular economy and resource efficiency to climate change mitigation, security, agriculture modernisation and regional development.
Biobased industries make use of European biomass sources and sustainable European supply chains. As such, they lower our dependency on imports and contribute to our raw material security. With 90% of Europe’s chemical industry feedstocks for non-energy use coming from fossil resources, access to alternatives is an important strategic issue. In addition Biobased industries can create opportunities for local regeneration in rural and coastal areas, fostering cooperation between different stakeholders along the value chain.
Biobased Industries Consortium
The Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels. It represents the private sector in the public-private partnership (PPP) with the EU on Bio-based Industries (BBI). Worth €3.7 billion, the partnership mobilises investment in innovative facilities and processes that manufacture high-quality bio-based products as well as in biorefining research and demonstration projects.
BIC is host to a unique mix of sectors that currently covers agriculture, agro-food, forestry, pulp and paper, chemicals, energy and other manufacturing sectors. With over 200 members including large companies, SMEs, SME Clusters, RTOs, universities, technology platforms and associations spread across Europe, BIC brings together an authoritative pool of cross sector and multi-disciplinary expertise in the field of bio-based industries.
