Descrizione del progetto
Da rifiuto a combustibile sostenibile
La rapida transizione verso la bioeconomia ha posto ricercatori e industrie di fronte alla sfida di sviluppare processi sostenibili. Ad esempio, gli impianti per la produzione di biocarburanti di seconda generazione generano una notevole quantità di fanghi ricchi di lignina, un sottoprodotto del processo di saccarificazione dei carboidrati. Il progetto FALCON, finanziato dall’UE, affronterà la sfida del flusso di fanghi di scarico ricchi di lignina, che sta aumentando in modo esponenziale con la costruzione di nuovi impianti. In particolare, convertirà questi rifiuti in carburanti per la navigazione, additivi per carburanti e componenti chimici, riducendo al minimo i rifiuti e offrendo alternative ai processi basati sulle risorse fossili. Attraverso la conversione enzimatica e chimica blanda, il processo FALCON fornirà un approccio ecologico alla produzione di carburanti e prodotti chimici.
Obiettivo
The transition to a biobased economy puts strong challenges on researchers and industry to develop sustainable processes. 2G biofuel plants use waste streams as substrates, but themselves generate a new waste stream of lignin-rich sludge that is left after saccharification of the carbohydrates. This waste stream is expected to exponentially increase with an increasing number of 2G bioethanol plants being built, according to a report of the International Energy Agency.
FALCON aims to convert this lignin-rich industrial waste of 2G biofuel plants to higher value products, in particular shipping fuels, fuel additives and chemical building blocks. This would be the next consecutive step in turning waste to products, thus minimizing waste and simultaneously providing new alternatives for fossil resource based processes. The FALCON process is based on enzymatic and mild chemical conversion of the lignin waste stream, providing a more environmentally friendly approach to the production of fuels and chemical building blocks.
FALCON takes full advantage of the lessons learned over the last 150 years in the petrochemical industry with respect to design of the processes. This implies an initial treatment at the 2G bioethanol plant, converting the waste to a lignin oil that can be more easily transported and also directly used as a low sulphur shipping fuel. It will be further converted into fuel additives and chemical building blocks in centralized facilities.
To achieve this, FALCON has formed a consortium of industry (3), SME (4) and academics (2) covering the whole value chain from a 2G biofuel plant delivering the lignin waste to enzyme producers, chemists and process engineers to depolymerize the lignin to oil. End-users are a fuel and chemicals producer and a ship engine developer. This unique combination of expertise and infrastructure will ensure the development of three new value chains with a strong emphasis on the economical sustainability.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsbioeconomy
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryaromatic compounds
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterialsbiofuels
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsenzymes
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Invito a presentare proposte
Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoBando secondario
H2020-NMBP-BIO-2016
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
1011 JV AMSTERDAM
Paesi Bassi