Biomass is a valuable, sustainable feedstock for the production of high added value chemicals and materials, and will play an important role in the transition of the European Process Industry to a Sustainable Process Industry. However, for the optimal utilization of these bio-resources the fractionation of the biomass on basis of functionalities is required. The innovative approach of BIO4PRODUCTS is to apply a short thermal treatment at elevated temperature enabling the fractionation of the bio-resource, but keeping the key chemical functionalities in separate, depolymerized fractions. Within the project the process will be demonstrated in a 3 t/d demo-plant. Subsequently, BIO4PRODUCTS will demonstrate the use of the resulting intermediate processing streams for the production of wood preservation products, furanic resins, phenolic resins and roofing material as cost-effective renewable alternatives for fossil resources in the conventional products (30-100% substitution). Each of the steps in the whole chain has at least been proven on bench-scale (TRL5) and should reach TRL 6-7 by execution of this project. The feedstock flexibility will be shown by demonstrating the complete chain for 4 different biomass resources representative for the majority of biomass resources available in Europe. Integral topics covered by the project are the techno-economic and environmental assessments as well as the development of business plans for subsequent commercialization of the individual product lines and the overall value chain. The BIO4PRODUCTS consortium consists of 2 large industries and 4 SME’s and 1 one non-profit organization covering the whole chain from biomass collection, primary and secondary conversion, and final use in end products. Additionally, specific expertise is included on environmental evaluation and the market introduction of sustainable products.

The European plastic market is not currently aligned with the circular economy. More than 25.8 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced per year in the EU28 being recycled only 29.7%. This represents a clear loose in the plastic market loop (losses of €10.56bn). Moreover, this goes against the EU legislation on waste (high environmental impact; 23.8 Mt of CO2). Low recycling rates of plastic are mainly due to the situation of packaging waste (i.e. main plastic waste fraction), since it is mainly domestic residue and consequently the quality of the material collected depends on the system of segregation available and the environmental awareness of citizens. PlastiCircle aims to develop and implement a holistic process to increase recycling rates of packaging waste in Europe. This will allow to reprocess again plastic waste in the same value chain (i.e. Circular economy; closure of plastic loop). This process is based on four axes: collection (to increase quantity of packaging collected), transport (to reduce costs of recovered plastic), sorting (to increase quality of recovered plastic), and valorization in value-added products (i.e. foam boards, automotive parts like engine covers/bumpers/dashboards, bituminous roofing membranes, garbage bags, asphalt sheets/roofing felts and urban furniture like fences/benches/protection walls). The target is to increase collection from 81.7% to 87% and valorization in a 9.8%. The implementation of PlastiCircle approach in Europe have the potential to increase collected plastic in 861,250t (reaching 14.14 Mt) and valorization in 1.59Mt. The valorization of this new material, represents a market value of €2.86bn-€7.95bn. Taking into account current figures of the plastic sector (turnover €350bn, 62,000 companies, 1.45M employees), this could imply creation of 500-1400 new companies and the generation of 11,900-33,000 new jobs in the medium to long term if PlastiCircle approach is extended in a EU level.