Biomass value chains
Main funder
Funder's project number: A71029
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 216 569,00
Funding program
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/08/2015
Project end date: 31/12/2017
Summary
European Commission seeks new economic growth, which strongly supports sustainable development and promotes
towards the low carbon economy. Therefore, bio-based chemicals, e.g. building blocks for bioplastics, have been
raised at the center of the 'Europe 2020' strategies. These biomass-based building blocks, monomers of bioplastics,
offer huge market and growth potential since they can be used for partial replacement of fossil-oil based plastics.
Further, from the competitiveness viewpoint of Finnish industry, biomass-based high-value end products should be
preferred instead of energy use.
Lignocellulosic biomass is heterogeneous, and its processing is challenging. In principle, biomass is logistically
expensive, and e.g. biofuels production suffer from high production costs and low value of end product. Therefore, a
more selective pretreatment procedures are required which enable chemical production of cleaner fractions and highvalue end products, such as bioplastics monomers, such as polyols and functional organic acids. This value chain also enables a profitable new business in the rural areas from local biomass. By integrating chemical processes to existing energy production and industrial parks, cost-efficient solutions are possible to build.
Main stages of this project are: efficient and selective pretreatment of selected biomasses, characterization of biomass fractions in the different stages, preparation and characterization of catalysts, catalytic conversion of C5 and C6 sugars (cellulose and hemicellulose derivatives) and direct conversion of cellulose to high-value end products
(monomers of bioplastics etc.), and results evaluation and reporting. Expected main results are: new knowledge on
biomass pretreatment and catalytic conversion, new and innovative uses of lignocellulose derived sugars, and new
technological solutions for the production of bioplastics monomers.
towards the low carbon economy. Therefore, bio-based chemicals, e.g. building blocks for bioplastics, have been
raised at the center of the 'Europe 2020' strategies. These biomass-based building blocks, monomers of bioplastics,
offer huge market and growth potential since they can be used for partial replacement of fossil-oil based plastics.
Further, from the competitiveness viewpoint of Finnish industry, biomass-based high-value end products should be
preferred instead of energy use.
Lignocellulosic biomass is heterogeneous, and its processing is challenging. In principle, biomass is logistically
expensive, and e.g. biofuels production suffer from high production costs and low value of end product. Therefore, a
more selective pretreatment procedures are required which enable chemical production of cleaner fractions and highvalue end products, such as bioplastics monomers, such as polyols and functional organic acids. This value chain also enables a profitable new business in the rural areas from local biomass. By integrating chemical processes to existing energy production and industrial parks, cost-efficient solutions are possible to build.
Main stages of this project are: efficient and selective pretreatment of selected biomasses, characterization of biomass fractions in the different stages, preparation and characterization of catalysts, catalytic conversion of C5 and C6 sugars (cellulose and hemicellulose derivatives) and direct conversion of cellulose to high-value end products
(monomers of bioplastics etc.), and results evaluation and reporting. Expected main results are: new knowledge on
biomass pretreatment and catalytic conversion, new and innovative uses of lignocellulose derived sugars, and new
technological solutions for the production of bioplastics monomers.
Principal Investigator
Primary responsible unit
Web page
https://www.chydenius.fi/tutkimus/soveltava-kemia/projektit/Biojalostuksen arvoketjut posteri A3.pdf