RESOPLA. Municipal green residues as novel substrates for sustainable bioplastic production

Duration: 2022-2024.

Over the past decades, petroleum-based plastics have contributed to economic development and brought great benefits to human life. Millions of tons of plastics are yearly utilized in numerous applications and small amount of plastic waste is globally recycled. The vast majority is dumped in landfills or enters the natural environment where plastics accumulate and persist for a long period of time.

With the increasing public awareness related to plastic accumulation, it is time to boost green transition by integrating plastics in the bio-based circular economy and developing new approaches for the production of bio-based plastics. Bioplastics degrade much faster than traditional plastics and aid to reduce carbon emissions because raw materials absorb CO₂ from atmosphere. Thus, bioplastic are key players to rebuild a low-carbon society which is one of the main targets of the green transition. In this sense, European Commission (EC) adopted a European strategy to include plastics as part of its action plan for a circular economy. Thus, in March 2020, the EC developed a policy framework on the use of bio-based plastics in the new circular economy action plan. At national level, different governmental policies are being addressed in environmental matters towards the transition of productive and societal models to more sustainable ones in which projects like RESOPLA will take a key role. The results obtained in RESOPLA will make possible to determine the possibilities, not explored so far, that municipal green residues (MGR) offer as cheap and abundant raw material for the production of lactic acid (LA) and PLA highly required in the bioplastic industry. Using residual biomass has the double benefit of reducing the amount of waste allocated in landfills while decreasing the demand of fossil fuels, thus reducing the greenhouse gases (GHG), as well as the pollutant emissions. This approach of waste supply and recovery via renewable products production is clearly in line with the circular economy concept. Thus, this project aims at implementing the use of MGR as novel substrates for sustainable bioplastic production targeting at the green transition.

Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) for the Spanish Economy responds to the specific recommendations made by the European Union in green transition strategy, and in line with the priorities of the European Green Deal. RESOPLA is clearly aligned with the general objectives of the RTRP, especially in the areas of the green transition and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

This project can help achieving the following goals of the Spanish Strategy for Circular Economy for year 2030:

• Reducing by 30% domestic material consumption
• Reducing waste by 15% with regard to 2010 waste levels
• Promoting reuse and reuse enabling activities until reaching 10% of municipal waste and
• Reducing GHG emissions to under 10 million tons of CO2eq.

Additionally, RESOPLA objectives are clearly in line with the priorities of the European Green Deal and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The main Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) included in this project are: SDG 8 Economic growth, SDG 9 Industries, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 11 Sustainable cities, SDG 12 Sustainable consumption and production, and SDG 13 Climate Change.

The RESOPLA project (TED2021-132024B-C22) is done in collaboration with IMDEA Energy and is funded by the National Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the European Union (NextGenerationEU/PRTR).

BIOUP. Biomethane production by integrating renewable energy surplus into wastewater treatment plants (WWTP)

Duration: 2022-2025.

The BIOUP project targets at studying, developing, evaluating and validating the biological transformation of hydrogen (H₂) from renewable sources and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the anaerobic digestion of organic matter into biomethane. This transformation process is based on the biological activity that methanogenic archaea present naturally. The technology implemented in this project will be adapted to the particularities of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP), which treats large volumes of sludge by anaerobic digestion, as well as to the intermittence in the generation of surplus renewable energy. The process design targets at biomethane production in one and two stages (in situ and ex situ) for its integration into the sludge line of a WWTP, also analyzing the influence of substrate co-digestion during the biomethanation process. In this context, the main goal of BIOUP project is to develop a technology that optimizes the energy demand of water purification processes.

The results of the project will provide a series of innovations including the followings:

• Development of an innovative biogas enrichment technology from anaerobic digestion to study different energy scenarios that allow positioning the project and its results in a field of incipient growth in terms of the storage of surplus renewable energy in the form of biomethane (power-to-gas).
• Optimization at the laboratory scale of the main parameters prior to scaling up and implementing the process in a pilot plant under industrial-like conditions, thus validating the operational feasibility of the technology.
• Design of a new process to improve methane (CH₄) yields of digesters, increase the H₂ buffer capacity and reduce CO₂ emissions.

The BIOUP project has an expected duration of 3 years, starting in September 2022. The following technical activities will be carried out:

• Prospecting of renewable hydrogen production technologies and strategies that can be integrated in the production of biomethane at WWTP.
• Design, construction and experimental evaluation at laboratory scale of main parameters for scaling up a biological upgrading process with exogenous H₂ feeding in two stages (in situ and ex situ).
• Study at the laboratory scale of the influence of substrate co-digestion in the in situ process.
• Study of the influence of pressure in the upgrading process with H₂.
• Scaling of power-to-gas technologies: validation of the process in two stages through the construction and experimental evaluation of prototypes up to TRL6.

The BIOUP project (CPP2021-009086) will be carried out in collaboration with ACCIONA (leader of the consortium) and the Institute for Sustainable Processes (ISP) of the University of Valladolid (UVA). This project has received funding from the State Research Agency of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the European Union (NextGenerationEU/PRTR).

BIOMIO. Biowaste conversion to microbial oils for fuel production

Duration: 2021-2024

Microbial lipids from oleaginous microorganisms are promising precursors for the production of renewable biofuels. Nevertheless, microbial oil production at industrial scale requires the use of inexpensive carbon sources for cell growth and lipid accumulation. The use of low-cost carbon sources derived from organic residues for oleaginous fermentation represents an interesting alternative with potential application in the energy sector.

The BIOMIO project targets to new processes that enable to increase the techno-economic viability of microbial oils and hydrogen production to be used as biofuels. The production of microbial oils and bio-hydrogen will contribute to accelerating the transition towards a more sustainable use and exploitation of energy. Tasks proposed in this project will promote an efficient technology for biofuels production aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the replacement of a fossil-based economy by a bioeconomy based on renewable resources.

The raw materials used to obtain the microbial oils and bio-hydrogen in BIOMIO are biowastes (agri-food wastes). The use of biowaste as feedstock will help to improve waste management policies through its energy valorization and reduce health and environmental concerns in the framework of Circular Economy. Likewise, carotenoids co-production from oleaginous yeasts will improve the economic sustainability of the biofuel production process.

The BIOMIO project is done in collaboration with IMDEA Energy (project coordinator) and is funded by the National Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-119403RB-C22, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).

BIOVISEB. Bioconversion of the cellulosic fraction of vine shoot biomass into ethanol and bioproducts

Duration: 2021-2024

BIOVISEB project aims at developing a process strategy to use vine shoot biomass as feedstock to produce biofuels and bioproducts within an integrated and multiproduct biorefinery. The utilization of lignocellulosic biomass residues in a biorefinery system is envisaged as one of the most promising ways to boost the development of a real circular bioeconomy by allowing maximizing the use of biomass resource, as well as reducing the dependency of fossil fuels and the effects on climate change derived from the transport and chemical industry sectors. The production of bio-based fuels and chemicals has an important application in different industrial sectors as substitutes of their counterparts from fossil origin.

The project focusses on assessing the availability of vine shoot biomass at national level and identify the geographical zones with high potential for a biorefinery implementation. In addition, the project investigates the use and conversion of vineshoot biomass to obtain targeted high-added value bioproducts, i.e, ethanol, lactic acid and caproic acid.

BIOVISEB project therefore contributes to the challenge of a clean, efficient and secure energy generation so that a sustainable and competitive energy supply that makes possible an adequate economic growth and social welfare is guaranteed. The obtaining of other high-added value bioproducts together with bioethanol, expect to contribute to bioeconomy deployment through an improvement of the current chemicals production systems and the enlargement of the scientific, technical and economic development around the wine sector. The results obtained in this project could provide valuable information to design valorisation plans in other geographical areas with great concentration of biomass residues from agroindustries, so contributing to enlarge the bioeconomy development in those zones. Moreover, the proposed approach has also an important social impact linked to the possibility of boosting employment creation in rural areas with high density of biomass waste production yields, as is the case of wine crop regions.

This project is done in collaboration with the University of Jaén (coordinator) and ICP-CSIC, and is funded by the National Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-112594RB-C32, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).

BeonNAT. Innovative value chains from tree & shrub species grown in marginal lands as a source of biomass for bio-based industries

Duration: 2020-2025

BeonNAT proposes to use marginal lands in Europe to obtain forest biomass for the production of 8 products based on new bio-based value chains. This way, BeonNAT will allow the production of biodegradable bio-based products and bioactive compounds that will play an important role to replace fossil-based competing substitute products.

BeonNAT will help to mitigate the impacts of climate change, enabling smarter and more sustainable products and materials, to make the most efficient use of our renewable natural resources, as well as providing huge economic opportunities for the bio-based economy in Europe.

The project Consortium is coordinated by CEDER-CIEMAT (Spain) and is constituted by 15 partners and 1 association: CESEFOR (Spain), RE-CORD (Italia), AIMPLAS (Spain), ATB (Germany), BTU (Germany), USV (Romania), IPB-CIMO (Portugal), CONTACTICA (Spain), IDOASIS (Spain), EL JARPIL (Spain), ENVIROHEMP (Spain), NNFCC (United Kingdom), TOLSA (Spain), MAVERICK (Spain), PEFC (Spain). All partners have been chosen in order to provide the suitable multidisciplinary knowledge, skills and expertise to obtain the expected output of scientific and technological results.

Website: https://beonnat.eu/

This Project leading to this application has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement Nº 887917. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Bio Based Industries Consortium

WaysTUP! Value chains for disruptive transformation of urban biowaste into biobased products in the city context

Duration: 2019-2023.

WaysTUP! aims to demonstrate the establishment of new value chains for urban biowaste utilisation to produce higher value purpose products (i.e. biobased products, including food and feed ingredients), through a multi-stakeholder approach in line with circular economy. The project will showcase a portfolio of new 'urban biowaste to biobased products' processes starting from different feedstocks; i.e. fish and meat waste, spent coffee grounds, household source separated biowaste, used cooking oils, cellulosic waste derived from municipal wastewater and waste treatment plants and sewage sludge.

Pilot demonstration will take place in several European cities i.e. Valencia (Spain), London (UK), Alicante (Spain), Prague (Czech Republic), Athens (Greece), L'Alcúdia (Spain), Terni (Italy) and Crete (Greece). The processes will result in the production of food and feed additives, flavours, insect protein, coffee oil, bioethanol, biosolvents, polyxydroxyalkanoates, ethyl lactate, long chain dicarboxylic acid, bioplastics and biochar. End-product characterisation and safety assessment will be implemented.

Life Cycle Assessment of the value chains will be conducted to assess their environmental impact. WaysTUP! will develop and implement a behavioural change approach with citizens and local communities by improving the current perception of citizens and local communities on urban biowaste as a local resource; enhancing the active participation of citizens in the separate collection of urban biowaste; and improving customer acceptance of urban bio-waste derived products. New profitable business models will be developed preparing market entry of the technology solutions demonstrated as well as of the end-products resulting from them. Finally, the project will provide guidance for city managers on adopting new organisational models supporting the valorisation of urban biowaste, as well as evidence-based EU level policy recommendations for decision makers.

The WaysTUP! project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement: 818308) and the expertise of the consortium covers all targeted industries. The WaysTUP! consortium is a multidisciplinary partnership, with strong academic and industrial involvement and broad coverage across Europe. The consortium is coordinated by Agricultores de la Vega de Valencia (Spain) and includes Biopolis SL (Spain), AIMPLAS (Spain), National Technical University of Athens (Greece), Technical University of Crete (Greece), University of Alicante (Spain), BIO-BEAN Limited (United Kingdom), NAFIGATE Corporation AS (Czechia), NOVAMONT SPA (Italy), IMECAL SA (Spain), CIEMAT (Spain), TBW Research GESMBH (Austria), Nutrition Sciences (Belgium), ADM Wild Valencia SA (Spain), Terra i Xufa SL (Spain), DRAXIS Environmental SA (Greece), Fundación CIRCE (Spain), Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum (Belgium), Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (Spain), Biosense Institute (Serbia), CREVIS SPRL (Belgium), Area Metropolitana de Barcelona (Spain), Ayuntamiento de Valencia (Spain), Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (Greece), Network for Sustainable Growth and Circular Economy (Greece).

Web page: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/818308

BIOTRES.  Urban Bioeconomy: From biowastes to biofuels and bio-based chemicals

Duration: 2019-2022.

Today, management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is a great problem that specially affects large cities. Furthermore, current treatment techniques are usually destructive and do not take advantage of the full potential of the MSW as raw material. The organic fraction (OFMSW) or bio-waste (food waste, pruning waste and gardening) is the largest fraction from MSW with a total share above 40%. In particular, the Community of Madrid generates more than 1,100,000 tons per year of OFMSW. To meet its strategic plan for developing a circular economy, the Community of Madrid needs to increase the added value and uses of all types of waste, including bio-waste. Hence, the implementation of proper sorting, collection and conversion technologies of OFMSW is crucial to reach such a goal.

Bio-waste is commonly treated and valorized through anaerobic digestion and composting processes, respectively yielding two products with low added value: biogas and compost. In contrast, novel emerging processing technologies capable of valorizing urban biowastes into high-value bio-based products (e.g. bioplastics, proteins, organic fertilizers, etc.) are highly desirable and will generate important economic, social and environmental benefit.

BIOTRES project focuses on the integration of different advanced technologies (thermochemical, chemical and biological) for the processing of such urban biowastes into high value-added bio-based chemicals. Energy recovery through biogas production via anaerobic digestion will be a cross element of the research line, including partial conversion of the organic feedstock into biohydrogen. The successful implementation of urban biowaste recycling and valorization technologies will require an integrated system-based innovation approach aligned with the biorefinery concept.

Special attention will be brought to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the entire urban biowaste value chain, which will consider participation of citizens towards the collection of this particular feedstock and the social acceptance of urban biowaste-derived products as important aspects of the analyses.

BIOTRES project is funded by the Regional Government of Madrid and is coordinated by the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Group from University Rey Juan Carlos. It also relies on the potential and scientific capability of 6 other research groups within the region of Community of Madrid: the Biofuel Unit at CIEMAT, the Sustainable Energy and Chemistry Broup at ICP-CSIC, the Electrochemistry Research Group and the Processes and Environmental Engineering Group at UAM, the Thermochemical Processes Unit at IMDEA Energy, and the Ciberimaginario Group and the Spectroscopic Laboratory at URJC; whose competences, expertise and scientific infrastructures are suitable and complementary for the development of an integrated R&D program. Moreover, TECNICAS REUNIDAS, FCC, ENAGAS, EXIDE TECHNOLOGIES and IBERCAT participate as associated companies in the development and evaluation of R&D activities, thus strengthening the project consortium.

Web page: http://bio3madrid.es/