Maximum valorisation of sustainably sourced bio-based feedstock in multi-product, zero-waste, zero-pollution biorefinery

In line with the objectives of the Circular economy and the Zero pollution action plan^[1], successful proposals will facilitate the large-scale deployment of industrial bio-based systems. These systems will contribute to the EU Bioeconomy Strategy implementation, demonstrating improved environmental performances, maximum resource- and energy-efficiency, and optimal cascading use of bio-based feedstock, aiming for ‘zero waste’^[2] and ‘zero-pollution’^[2] operations.

Project results should contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• Enhanced sustainability and circularity performance of bio-based systems realising the ‘zero-waste’, ‘zero-pollution’ ambition.
• Revitalised communities of the bioeconomy by creating new green jobs and investments.
• Deployed industrial symbiosis^[2].
• Integrated pollution prevention and control in bio-based systems of air, water, soil and noise levels.
• Public awareness and acceptance of bio-based solutions.
• Support market uptake growth and acceptance of scalable bio-based solutions.

Technology Readiness Level (TRL): Activities are expected to achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project – see Horizon Europe General Annex B.

Expected EU contribution per project: It is estimated that a contribution of EUR 14 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

The EU Bioeconomy Strategy sets the circularity and the environmental protection at the basis of the modernisation of bio-based industries in the Union, to ensure a trustful green transition of EU economy away from a linear fossil-based system.

The objective of this topic is to deploy solutions with the highest circularity levels, while extracting maximum value from the bio-based feedstock to produce bio-based products in the scope of CBE and prevent and control any pollution from bio-based industries.

Proposals under this topic should:

• Demonstrate at large scale a new biorefinery concept extracting maximum value from (all components of) the sustainably sourced bio-based feedstock to produce a variety of materials/products in the scope of CBE JU.
• Set up and operate a biorefinery model that maximises the total value extracted from the input bio-based feedstock, and to minimise the required input (feedstock, energy, other chemicals, other process materials), rather than ‘just’ focusing on a small number of main products, applying efficient use of biomass fractions (including cascading approach to valorise side-streams where applicable).
• Demonstrate the ‘zero-waste’ ambition by:
  • Reducing any exhaust emissions from the industrial installation. These include exhaust flows that are usually not considered in the common pollution prevention and control operations, such as hot water, vapours, odours, etc.
  • Designing circular processes and looking on the best practices already available or under development, including in other EU R&I programmes.
  • Applying circular by design concepts to output materials/products.
• Demonstrate the ‘zero-pollution’ ambition by:
  • Eliminating/minimising hazardous substances from the feedstock, if any.
  • Using safe bio-based substances to substitute hazardous and toxic ones in processes.
  • Re-circulating any process flow such as air/water/energy/chemicals, also looking on the best practices already available or under development, including in other EU R&I programmes.
• Provision for the project integrating ‘safe-and-sustainable-by-design’ generic criteria and framework considerations^[5], in line with the EU Chemicals strategy for sustainability.
• Ensure that the operation of the biorefinery contribute to climate change mitigation, both aiming at negative GHG emissions and at realizing effective carbon removal^[2], either through production of circular bio-based materials and/or carbon storage in nature-based solutions (e.g. reforestation, soil, grasslands, etc.).
• Design the biorefinery operations to include the reduction noise levels.
• Perform a full life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of the output materials/products.
• Explore the viability of implementing industrial symbiosis, between different installations (respecting the short value chain concept) or other symbiosis (e.g., with municipal waste management) to share and exploit materials and carrier streams and any process flows such as air/water/energy/chemicals, to achieve the ‘zero-waste’ and ‘zero-pollution’ ambition.
• Apply circular by design concepts to output materials/products in the scope of CBE JU.
• Validate integrated monitoring and reporting systems on the effective reduction of pollutant emissions.
• Demonstrate the replicability of the zero-waste biorefinery concept by conducting replication studies under different assumptions (e.g., location, feedstock source) at a proof-of-concept level.
• Assess the contribution of the project to the ‘zero-pollution’ ambition, climate change neutrality and biodiversity protection and restoration targets.
• Evaluate the socio-economic impacts on local communities of the proposed solutions.
• Apply and/or adapt existing/mature or novel digital technologies, provided that they are instrumental to achieving the project’s outcomes and scope, especially to ensure high standards of resource efficiency and environmental protection. Applications of digital technologies that should be considered in the scope are among the following areas: i) chemicals, materials and process design & modelling ii) (real-time) process monitoring and optimisation (including environmental performance) iii) predictive maintenance & plant engineering and iv) data analytics and data management of the multi-product, zero-waste, zero-pollution biorefinery.

(Note) Points i)-iv) should consider the contribution to/from data/feedback loops across circular, bio-based value chains but also coordination of processes among different sectors (especially if symbiosis concepts apply in the project)

• Quantify and showcase the achievements and challenges of the project to national/regional stakeholders and policymakers, investors and brand owners^[2] to foster their support to scale up the industrial capacity to deploy sustainable circular bio-based solutions across Europe.
• Design and perform dissemination activities to targeted stakeholders, including public and relevant industry actors, enabling the replication, market and social acceptance of the large-scale development of bio-based solutions of the multi-product, ‘zero-waste’, ‘zero-pollution’ biorefinery in the scope.

Proposals should target relevant input bio-based feedstock (i.e., widely available in Europe) to ensure replicability of the biorefinery concept.

Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach and demonstrate the involvement of all concerned key actors in the bio-based systems, such as researchers, experts in pollution prevention and monitoring, bio-based processing industries, regional policy makers, civil society. Please see the section Additional requirements in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2022^[8] for more details.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0400&from=EN

[2] for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2022 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)

[3] for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2022 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)

[4] for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2022 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)

[5] The publication of the ’Safe and Sustainable by Design chemicals and materials’ Framework, aiming to the definition of criteria and evaluation procedure for chemicals and materials, is expected to become available by end of 2022. The proposed SSbD framework is expected to assess chemicals and materials following a hierarchical approach in which safety aspects are considered first, followed by environmental, social and economic aspects. Please see also European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Caldeira, C., Farcal, R., Moretti, C., et al., Safe and sustainable by design chemicals and materials: review of safety and sustainability dimensions, aspects, methods, indicators, and tools, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/879069

[6] for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2022 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)

[7] for a description of the term, see annex Glossary in the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2022 (https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents)

[8] https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents