BioCat Polymers

BioCatPolymer shall demonstrate cost-effective and sustainable conversion of low-quality biomass

BioCatPolymer shall demonstrate cost-effective, sustainable and efficient cascade technology method for the conversion of resudual low-quality biomass into biopolymers with equivalent or better performance than their fossil-based counterparts.

In particular, BioCatPolymers aim towards the efficient and economical production of isoprene and 3-methyl-1.5-pentanediol (3MPD), two monomers with very large markets that can be further processed in the existing fossil-polymer infrastructure for the production of elastomers and polyurethanes, respectively.

This ambitious goal shall be achieved by optimising and demonstrating the entire value chain, from the pretreatment of low quality biomass to biological fermentation to MVL, separation of MVL from the fermentation broth, selective catalytic conversion to the targeted monomer, purification to polymer grade quality and polymerisation to the final polymer product.

The new approach proposed in this project surpasses the barriers to traditional purely bio-based methods. It aims to produce bioisoprene with a 50 per cent cost reduction and 3MPD at a 70 per cent cost reduction compared to average market prices by optimising the platform cell factories and all processes in the process and integrating the process modules, thus increasing the competitiveness of the biological processes in terms of economy.

The main purpose of BioCatPolymers is to demonstrate a cost-effective, sustainable and efficient way of converting low-quality biomass into biopolymers with equivalent or better performance than their fossil-based counterparts, says Tino Lassman, project manager at Sekab

The BioCatPolymers consortium consists of seven legal entities in five countries within the EU: Greece, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and one associated member country Switzerland. The project is coordinated by the Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas in Greece. Other partners are Sekab E-Technology AB in Sweden, Visolis BV in the Netherlands, Bioprocess Pilot Facility B.V. in the Netherlands, the Process Design Center in the Netherlands, Quantis in Switzerland and Covestro Deutschland AG in Germany.