European grant 'Doing more with lignin'

€1.2 million to investigate the potential of crude lignin oil as a platform for sustainable chemicals and materials

A Dutch consortium led by Vertoro has been granted €1.2 million to investigate the potential of crude lignin oil as a platform for sustainable chemicals and materials. Their €2.9 million project called ‘Doing more with lignin’ officially started 1 October 2019 and is being co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Provinces of Limburg and Brabant in the context of the Operation Program South Netherlands (OPZuid).

Full value chain for sustainable polyurethane and phenol
A switch from fossil-based to renewable raw materials is necessary to reduce the carbon footprint of the Dutch chemical sector. Bioresidues play an important role in this transition as an emerging feedstock for chemicals and materials. The ‘Doing more with lignin’ project sets out to contribute to this goal by setting up a full value chain at pilot scale for lignin-based materials (polyurethane) and chemicals (phenol). Lignin – obtained from biomass – seems to be a very interesting residue as it is a low-cost and abundant renewable raw material.

Cross campus testing grounds
The ‘Doing more with lignin’ project will utilize existing infrastructure for biobased chemistry at 3 locations in the south of the Netherlands: Brightlands Chemelot Campus Geleen, Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo and Green Chemistry Campus Bergen op Zoom. The project is focused on the further development of an interregional campus eco-system and accompanying key-infrastructure for the conversion of biomass residues to crude lignin oil (CLO) and CLO derived polyurethane and phenol.

Read more.