The RESYNTEX conference in Brussels on 24 April 2019 marked the final phase of this exciting project. RESYNTEX was funded by the European Commission’s HORIZON 2020 Programme via a SPIRE Public Private Partnership call and started in June 2015 to create a new circular economy concept for the textile and chemical industries. Cefic is one of 20 partners involved in the project, which represented 10 different EU member states.
Major technological advances were achieved, one being the construction of a pilot installation in Slovenia. This site will demonstrate the whole symbiosis concept of RESYNTEX in an industrial environment with full integration of the sorting, pre-treatment, chemical and enzymatic processes, as well as liquid and solid waste treatment and water recycling.
With this installation, the RESYNTEX project moved into the real-world testing of its technology for chemical and biotechnological recycling of textile waste. To achieve large-scale industrial application, significant further technology development work is necessary and must be accompanied by smart regulatory and economic incentives.
The project may be coming to an end, but the project partners see plenty of opportunities to work towards a circular and low carbon economy with a key role for innovative chemical and biotechnological recycling technologies. Although fundamentally understood, such technologies are currently under-deployed for plastics circularity. Further innovation, scale-up to demonstration, adoption of policies, and establishment of recycling-chains are needed to establish clear pathways for full-scale implementation to valorise post-use waste currently shipped, burnt or disposed of in landfill.
Dear colleagues and members of the SusChem community,
The past year showed us once again the enormous challenges and changes that our world and our industry have to cope with, whilst striving to achieve sustainable development. An extended summer across Europe reminded me and many of us that CO2 emissions are still on the rise; and the issue of plastics waste became more urgent on the political agenda.
Identifying solutions to global challenges like these is achieved via science and technology – and through collaboration. This is exactly the purpose of SusChem, and I think in 2018 we made further progress in sharing a ‘European voice’ on research and innovation priorities in Sustainable Chemistry and Industrial Biotech.
One highlight was our response to Horizon Europe, the ambitious research and innovation programme that the European Commission is forging to succeed Horizon 2020. At our annual stakeholders event in June, the potential of the contribution of SusChem and Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) under Horizon Europe was highlighted. And we initiated our consultation to build a new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). I am sure the new SIRA will be a solid base for advising the European Commission on future technology priorities for Horizon Europe. Delivery of a final draft is planned in the course of 2019 – a major task for next year.
Looking back on 2018, I also well remember our brokerage event in October which was supported by keynote speakers from the Commission and also the disruptive innovation community. The event brought together some 200 European innovators to form strong consortia under open Horizon 2020 calls – a really impressive number! Also the number of national technology platforms (NTPs) rose in 2018 with the accession of Bulgaria, Finland and Sweden, so that our community now comprises 17 NTPs across Europe.
So 2018 was really impactful. Our key focus for 2019 will be to build on SusChem’s role as a multi-stakeholder advisory forum engaging with both academia and industry. Together we can provide a vision and direction on innovation and technology priorities in Sustainable Chemistry and industrial biotechnology to ensure the success of Horizon Europe. We therefore invite you to join us in formulating together the new SusChem SIRA!
On behalf of the SusChem Board and the SusChem secretariat, I would like to thank you all very much for your continuing commitment to our platform and activities. I wish you a relaxing Christmas break and a healthy, happy and “sustainable” New Year. We look forward to working with you on new SusChem inspired initiatives over the next 12 months!
Best wishes,
Dr Markus Steilemann
Chairman of the SusChem Board
The SusChem-supported Horizon 2020 project REE4EU has successfully demonstrated at a pilot scale a closed-loop permanent magnet recycling process for the first time in Europe. The REE4EU pilot has successfully treated several tons of in-process wastes and end-of-life magnetic products containing rare earth elements, resulting in the recovery of almost hundred kilos of rare earth alloys. The alloy will be reused in the manufacturing of permanent magnet products, thereby closing the materials loop!
Rare earth elements (REEs) are the seventeen chemical elements including the lanthanides, Scandium and Yttrium that are key-enablers of sustainable technologies. They are used in hybrid electric vehicles, wind turbines, and highly efficient electric motors. Currently European industries are highly reliant on imports of these valuable and rare materials. Recycling the elements from REE-containing waste streams could constitute an important secondary source of the materials for Europe.
A recent study estimated the global trade in REE-containing products in 2010 is around EUR 1.5 trillion, or 13% of global trade. However, only 1% of REE waste is being recovered as no adequate process is currently available. REE4EU’s success could open-up a brand-new route to recover process wastes from permanent magnet production.
Pilot demo
During the third year of this four-year project that started in October 2015, work has focused on constructing and running the REE4EU's pilot units: the high temperature electrolysis (HTE) and ionic liquid extraction (ILE) units. The technology has now been demonstrated at pre-industrial scale using permanent magnet wastes.
Enough waste material (in-process waste and end-of-life magnets) has been treated to obtain enough rare earth alloy (REA) to run a 600 kg batch of strip cast rare earth master alloy (REMA) and output material from the HTE pilot cell has been used to manufacture permanent magnets in a laboratory line.
The quality of both the REMA input and the permanent magnet output obtained in terms of magnetic properties and chemical composition show that the magnets prepared have the same properties as magnets from mass production using virgin materials. This validates the REE4EU technology to obtain REA for permanent magnet production using magnet waste materials.
The two-step process (ILE then HTE) has been optimised for direct REA production, suitable for REMA to be used in permanent magnet manufacturing. In this way, a complete closed-loop permanent magnet recycling has been demonstrated at a pre-industrial scale using less steps than conventional methods currently carried out in China.
The process and its advantages are explained in this REE4EU video.
Next steps
In the next few months, the REA obtained in the HTE unit will be used to manufacture REMA for permanent magnets in a real magnet production line and benchmarked against magnets produced using virgin materials.
Data collection and modelling activities on permanent magnet waste recycling routes have been carried out and these results will be used to eco-design the recycling chain and to compare it to the conventional supply route of REA currently used for permanent magnet production.
Commenting on the release of the report, SusChem Chairman and Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann said:
“The Plastics industry is committed to increase the resource efficiency of its production processes and to face the challenge of closing the circularity loop. The new Research and Innovation Agenda gives fresh impetus on the strongest way to drive progress along plastics value chains by means of collaboration.”
Analysis
The analysis from this new report has helped to identify priorities, projects and the level of investment needed to achieve full circularity of plastics. SusChem and its partners – Cefic, PlasticsEurope, European Plastics Converters (EuPC) and the European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (ECP4) – will use this report as their main input to EU innovation policy on the circularity of plastics.
It is hoped that this document will inspire an increase in the number of collaborative projects as well as increasing European and member states support for a full implementation of the solutions proposed.
The document was developed using input from experts involved in the plastics value chain; principally from SusChem, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), the European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (ECP4), the European Plastics Converters (EuPC), and PlasticsEurope.
There are around 60 000 companies in the European plastic industry, most of them SMEs, employing over 1.5 million people and generating a turnover close to EUR 350 billion in 2016.
Thanks to their versatility and high resource efficiency, plastics have enabled innovation in many other sectors allowing the development of products and solutions in strategic areas (e.g., higher protection in packaging, insulation in building & construction, lightweight for transportation, societal wellbeing brought by renewable energy and medical devices) that could not exist today without these materials. A full plastics circularity has the potential to contribute to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency and job creation (European Circular Economy objectives).
Report partners
The European Chemical Industry Council - Cefic is a committed partner to EU policymakers, facilitating dialogue with industry and sharing broad-based expertise. Cefic represents large, medium and small chemical companies across Europe, which directly provide 1.2 million jobs and account for 14.7% of world chemical production. Based in Brussels since its founding in 1972, Cefic interacts on behalf of its members with international and EU institutions, non-governmental organisations, the international media, and other stakeholders.
PlasticsEurope is one of the leading European trade associations with centres in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan and Paris. The association networks with European and national plastics associations and has more than 100 member companies that produce over 90% of all polymers across the EU28 member states plus Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
European Plastics Converters (EuPC) is the EU-level trade association, based in Brussels, representing more than 50 000 companies in Europe, which produce over 50 million tonnes of plastic products every year. Plastics converters (sometimes called "Processors") are the heart of the plastics industry. They manufacture plastics semi-finished and finished products for an extremely wide range of industrial and consumer markets - the automotive electrical and electronic, packaging, construction and healthcare industries, to name but a few.
The European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (ECP4) is an industry-driven collaboration that unites 25 members from 13 countries amongst the top-level European research institutions, regional plastic clusters, and EU-level industrial organisations of plastics and composites converters. ECP4 brings innovation partners together to identify opportunities for collaborative research.
Demographic changes, such as population growth in developing countries and an ageing population in developed countries, coupled with increasing standards of living and urbanisation trends will foster a greater demand for products and applications linked to human well-being, health, hygiene and sustainability. As a consequence, the worldwide demand for raw materials is expected to increase while global resources and land become scarce. A shift towards a more resource-efficient, circular economy and sustainable development is essential.
Europe is confronted with many challenges along the entire raw materials value chain. Yet, innovation in raw materials value chains remains untapped despite the sector’s great potential. A more coordinated approach towards raw materials management will help reduce external supply dependency and lead to an efficient use of resources.
To achieve these goals, a long-term vision and roadmap to 2050 could help tap the full potential of raw materials supply and use in Europe and boost the innovation capacity of the sector, turning it into a strong, sustainable pillar of the EU economy and an attractive industry, whilst addressing societal and environmental challenges and increasing benefits for society. This is where VERAM came in.
Key to success
“The key to the success of VERAM was the strong partnership that was forged through the project, linking diverse ETPs, value chains, industry sectors and academia,” commented Patrick Wall, VERAM’s project coordinator from the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Mineral Resources (ETP SMR).
“To address the challenges in the raw materials supply chain, VERAM initiated communication and dialogue between the different raw materials sectors, stakeholders (including civil society organisations) and all parts of the value chain to pool experience and knowledge and build the VERAM Vision and Roadmap for Raw Materials,” Mr. Wall continued.
Henk Pool, Innovation Manager at CEFIC, a partner in the VERAM project consortium said: “Predicting the future is a significant challenge, especially in a world that is experiencing rapid change, including accelerators of change such as digitalisation, however we can be certain that there will still be a significant need for raw materials in 2050! And VERAM has helped us understand what will be required and the critical need for innovation to ensure this need can be met.”
Results of the feasibility study to establish a R&I Raw Materials Stakeholder Portal
Work package 2: Dissemination and communication
Project website design and initial promotion materials (logo, templates)
Clustering with ongoing initiatives (EIT RM; clusters; EU projects on RM, …)
Final Conference
Work package 3: Defining and exploring the playing field
Report on the raw materials research and innovation network: the relevant players and their roles
Report on the RM research & innovation funding and projects: relevant R & I topics in the EU and abroad, strengths and weaknesses of current EU and MS funding landscape
Report on future societal challenges and the corresponding needs of global markets and EU industries
Report on the challenge ahead: the gap between future EU industrial needs and current research and innovation funding
Web based information handling portal
Work package 4: Creating a vision 2030 and 2050 for raw materials
Report on economic outlook and raw material needs for 2050
Report on Raw material research and innovation vision for 2050
Report on innovation and capacity building needs across the EU economy till 2050
Work package 5: Creating the raw materials roadmap 2050
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
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.
SusChem has confirmed that the SusChem 2018 Brokerage Event will be held on Tuesday 23 October 2018 at Hotel Le Plaza in Brussels. SusChem #Brokerage2018 will cover published calls relevant to the sustainable chemistry community in the remaining two years of the Horizon 2020 programme.
Save the date – 23 October 2018 now! More information on the Brokerage event will be available via the SusChem website – www.suschem.org – soon and relayed via our social media channels.
Focus area of high interest for sustainable chemistry include:
'Building a low Carbon, Climate-resilient Future' (EUR 3.3 billion budget), will aims to align research and innovation investments with the climate change objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement as well as with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The focus area will support the development of solutions to achieve carbon neutrality and climate resilience by the second half of the century. Over EUR two billion will be invested in the four strategic priorities identified in the Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation Communication, namely renewables, energy efficiency in buildings, electro-mobility and energy storage solutions – with an emphasis on the next generation of batter technologies. SusChem has recently published its views on the innovations required in this area – link to battery paper.
'Connecting economic and environmental gains – the Circular Economy' (EUR 941 million budget) will support the Commission's ambitious Circular Economy package and make a strong contribution to sustainable development goals, climate action, resource efficiency, jobs and growth, and industrial competitiveness.
'Digitising and transforming European industry and services' (EUR 1.7 billion budget) will address the combination of digital technologies with innovations in other technological areas, as emphasised in the Digital Single Market strategy. This field offers huge opportunities for increasing industrial competitiveness, to create growth and jobs and to address a range of societal challenges.
The two papers are designed to stimulate debate on future research and innovation programmes, including Horizon Europe, in the two areas. Both papers have been produced by expert teams for SusChem and give a view of the current market, the technologies and the opportunities and challenges ahead.
In both cases a through-the-value-chain holistic European innovation programme is needed, an approach that SusChem has championed before in response to other complex societal challenges.'
Battery Storage
The ‘Battery Energy Storage’ paper investigates the current state of battery storage technologies in Europe, the main challenges, and suggests actions for the future. The paper builds on the views of stakeholders in the European battery value chain and, in particular, the chemical industry and raw material suppliers.
“The increase of Renewable Energy Sources has highlighted the next challenge: storage of energy when demand is lower than the supply. Among the different technologies, batteries have the highest cost reduction potential now. The growing need for European energy independence and security pushes for more 'in-house' developments and installation. European players should focus on developing battery cell production capacity in Europe in order to complete the value chain and allow a full integration, from material to final batteries,” comments Anne.-Chloe Devic, coordinator of the SusChem Materials Working Group.
Composites for circularity
The ‘Polymer Composites Circularity’ paper examines the technology and non-technology requirements to ensure that these advanced materials, that are featuring in an increasing number of applications, can be successfully integrated into the circular economy.
“The growing demand of polymer composites, together with the increase in number of applications raises the question: what will happen to all the composite waste that is generated either from production or end-of-life parts? Although significant efforts have been made in Europe, including the Circular Economy Package and, in particular, its Plastics Strategy, the fibre-reinforced polymer space is not really included in the focus as yet, Developing and ensuring a systematic circular ecosystem for these materials needs to be a priority,” commented Anne-Chloe Devic
Companies and individuals are invited to submit applications to the Global Chemical Leasing Award 2018 award under three categories:
Case studies (implementation in companies) that is open to users and suppliers of chemicals. To be eligible for application, the company must have already started to implement Chemical Leasing concepts.
Special innovation for case studies with technical solutions that have demonstrated the potential to define a new state of the art for a certain use of chemicals (i.e. Circular economy, non-tox-solution, etc.), and also including Start-ups, implemented business plans, etc.
Research and development activities including new products, new processes, patents, business concepts papers, lectures, curricula, etc. that drive adoption of Chemical Leasing forward. Possible topics are widespread and could address Green and Sustainable Chemistry, Sustainable Industrial Parks, Sustainable Cities, but also business management and legal issues, etc.
The 2018 award is jointly sponsored and supported by UNIDO, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), and the German Environment Agency (UBA).
What is Chemical Leasing?
Chemical Leasing is a service-oriented business model that shifts the focus from increasing sales volume of chemicals towards a value-added approach. The producer mainly sells the functions performed by the chemical and functional units are the main basis for payment.
Within Chemical Leasing business models, the responsibility of the producer and service provider is extended and may include management of the entire life cycle.
Chemical Leasing strives for a win-win situation. It aims at increasing the efficient use of chemicals while reducing the risks of chemicals and protecting human health. It improves the economic and environmental performance of participating companies and enhances their access to new markets.
Key elements of successful Chemical Leasing business models are appropriate benefit sharing, high quality standards and mutual trust between participating companies. See the UNIDO video below.
The SusChem-Spain Stakeholders Event took place on 14 March in Madrid and concluded that the chemical sector is key to the sustainable and circular productive model that both Europe and Spain are seeking.
During the official opening, SusChem-Spain’s chair, Javier Brañas, highlighted the importance of public-private collaboration in Sustainable Chemistry, as the way to multiply the existing opportunities that innovation in science and technology offer to move towards a circular economy model.
In this context, the Chemical Industry plays, and will play, a key role as an example of productive and economic development. FEIQUE’s General Director, Juan Antonio Labat, highlighted the effort the Chemical Industry is making in order to position themselves as the 1st industrial R&D&I investor in Spain (25%), bearing in mind that 57% of the Chemical companies are innovative, twice the industrial average, and the sector’s clear support for talent and quality employment, since 23% of researchers working in industry are employed by a chemical company.
Director General of R&D&I of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, Clara Eugenia GarcÃa, emphasised the job of the Chemical sector as a strategic one, that contributes in a direct way to sustainable development and competitiveness, since its activity has a clear impact in other sectors, making it a key player when developing the next EU Framework Programme (FP9), under discussion already in Europe, as the roadmap to reach a sustainable future. She also wanted to highlight that the future will inevitably need to move towards circular economy, “Or the future is circular or there will be no future”, as she expressed it.
During the presentation of the recently approved National Scientific & Technical Research and Innovation Plan (2017-2020), GarcÃa stressed the need for public – private collaboration and the enhancement role that relies on the Administration since “industrial policy goes hand on hand with research policy and vice-versa”. This was the reason why both parameters need to be considered globally as well as promoting the elimination of the sectorial barriers. Following this statement, CDTI representatives, Francisco MarÃn, Director General, and Cecilia Hernández, Manager of Health, Bioeconomy, Climate and Natural Resources, announced some of the new funding instruments of CDTI within the new Plan
Pictured below are (from left to right): Javier Brañas (SusChem España), Clara Eugenia GarcÃa (MINECO), Francisco MarÃn (CDTI) and Juan Antonio Labat (Feique).
The new Framework Programme: FP9
Following the publication of the Horizon 2020 Work programme 2018-2020, work is already being done to prepare for the next European Framework Programme, also known as FP9, that will cover the period 2021-2027. This was one of the key topics of the Stakeholders’ event, in which priority areas for the Spanish Chemical sector were debated with participants.
About SusChem-Spain
Spanish Technology Platform of Sustainable Chemistry, SusChem-Spain, is an Industry led public-private initiative, with the participation of all agents, that promote Research, development and innovation in Chemistry and Industrial Biotechnology. It promotes collaborative activities, knowledge and information Exchange and Technology transfer to provide solutions to future challenges.
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.
The European Commission and the European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) invite you to the final conference of the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service entitled: 'Boosting regional investments in sustainable chemicals' that is taking place on 14 September in Brussels. The Sustainable Chemicals Support Service initiative was organised by a consortium of Cefic,
PNO and CIRCE.
The event aims to present the results of the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service initiative 'Six Model demonstrator regions for sustainable chemical production', that was funded by the European Commission. It will feature success stories and best practices from the six regions, selected by the European Commission as 'model demonstrator regions' in Europe for a sustainable chemical industry.
The regions are:
Andalusia (Spain)
Groningen-Drenthe (The Netherlands)
Kosice (Slovakia)
Scotland (United Kingdom)
South and Eastern Ireland
Wallonia (Belgium)
The Conference will also present the publicly available self-assessment tool, developed by the initiative, which aims to support all European regions to assess their investment readiness level to produce chemicals in a sustainable manner.
This event is free of charge and will be held in English.
The aim of the European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service initiative was to encourage investments in sustainable chemicals production in Europe that will contribute to the development of the circular economy, for example by taking advantage of domestically available feedstock such as biomass, waste or CO2.
Cefic and SusChem have been very supportive of collaboration within and between chemical regions based on concepts such as Industrial Symbiosis. This was demonstrated by Cefic-SusChem participation in the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) FP7 project and expressed in the 2015 SusChem position paper on Circular Economy.
#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.
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.
