04.03.10
Multimillion EU biorefinery project kicked off
Lille/Brussels – The European Commission is accelerating its efforts to create sustainable bio-based industry production processes. Following yesterday’s approval of BASF’s industrial starch potato, Amflora, optimisation of bioraffineries is next on the list. The Commission has earmarked EUR23m between now and and 2014 to significantly improve the performance of Europe's biorefineries. Dubbed EUROBIOREF ('European multilevel integrated biorefinery design for sustainable biomass processing'), the new project aims to improve cost efficiency by 30%, cut energy use by 30%, and reduce feedstock consumption by 10%. Its modular biorefinery concept aims at producing chemicals, polymers and materials to high-energy aviation fuels with help of a wide range of feedstocks and different processes (chemical, biochemical and thermochemical). „This programme is an excellent opportunity to fill the gap between agriculture and chemical industry“, says Professor Franck Dumeignil from University of Lille, who will coordinate the consortium with parters from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Madagascar, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.