COUNTLESS_project

📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie 📣 CLIB is an international open-innovation cluster. 🌍 It has over 115 members from Germany and 15 other countries, which come from diverse industries and markets such as biotechnology, chemistry, food and feed, home and personal care, textiles, and others. 🧬🍽️🧴👚 All its members (large industry, SME, academia, investors, start-ups, …) share the vision for biotechnology as key in a sustainable circular bioeconomy. ♻️ CLIB connects its members within and beyond the cluster to initiate new research and business projects, networking diverse actors along and across value networks and to identify new opportunities. 🌐 CLIB links feedstock owners with technology providers, processing industries, and consumer industries.🧪🏭🛒 By engaging in projects such as COUNTLESS, the cluster helps accelerate tech development and facilitate scale-up to help bring products and processes to application. 🚀🔧➡️🏭 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eEXZebHc 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – SOPREMA France 🌿 🏗️ SOPREMA is one of the end users of the bio-based chemicals developed in the COUNTLESS project. This 🏠 family-owned construction materials company is based in France and has more than 100 years of history. SOPREMA designs and produces numerous technologies for 🌧️ waterproofing and 🧱 insulation materials. Identifying alternatives to fossil-based materials has been one of the key research topics at SOPREMA for more than 10 years. Several 🌿 biobased and ♻️ recycled products are part of the current portfolio, and the development of other sustainable solutions is in the works, especially for polyurethane materials and their equivalents. For SOPREMA, COUNTLESS is a great framework for bringing the development of bio-based construction solutions to the next step. 🚀 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eCJgm5fm 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH 🌿 ifeu - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg is our expert for sustainability assessments in COUNTLESS. They provide a 🌍 worldwide research and consultancy service in relation to all major environmental and sustainability issues and have over 25 years of expertise in life cycle assessments. In the project, they help the partners understand how the sustainability of the developed process and product applications can be ensured and improved. Only by integrating 🌱 environmental (LCA), 💰 economic (TEA), 👥 social (sLCA) as well as 🛡️ regulatory, ⚕️ health, and 🔒 safety aspects can strategic decisions on the further exploitation of the project’s results be made. 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/e75pSquq 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – Universiteit Utrecht 🌿 One of our scientific partners in COUNTLESS is Utrecht University 🏫, a leading Dutch research institution with a strong focus on advancing sustainable chemical processes through its Institute for Sustainable and Circular Chemistry (https://lnkd.in/eVNvkps7) 🔄. Here, researchers focus on (re)designing, synthesizing and investigating molecules and materials for circularity and sustainability 🌱. They add their expertise in rapid lignin characterization and chemometric approaches to the project: combining machine learning 🤖 with information-dense and easy-to-acquire infrared spectra 🌈 predicting key lignin properties (molecular weight, functional groups, and polydispersity). They can also monitor reactions with online spectroscopy 🔬. The team will develop rapid feedstock and product analysis with infrared spectroscopy - essential to deal with the large amounts of lignin which will be processed by the LignoValue Pilot Plant 🏭. They will also contribute to the implementation of real-time process monitoring in the LignoValue Pilot Plant with infrared spectroscopy and digital tools 🛠️, aiming to improve process efficiency from a technical and sustainability point of view 🌍. 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eFwKpT_T 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – Braskem🌿 Our project partner Braskem, as an international player in the chemicals and commodities market, brings vital experience to the project. They have already brought a green polymer onto the market – making biobased PE a commodity. This experience will be crucial when the COUNTLESS consortium will aim to scale-up the LignoValue process and intermediate production. As a producer of specialty chemicals and resins, Braskem will also work in product development, while bringing a strong focus on sustainability to the project. 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eEksxaPs 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – Daren Labs 🌿 Daren Labs works at the intersection of academia and industry and converts visionary concepts into tangible products. The innovation hub has expertise from biochemistry to chemical physics, thus offering a diverse set of capabilities. In COUNTLESS_project, this partner will use their expertise in flame retardants (FRs) to develop new FRs based on the lignin fractions produced via the chemocatalytic depolymerisation at VITO Daren Labs could already demonstrate that bio-based FRs can be efficient: 🧪🔥 The picture shows three epoxy strips. Each was ignited at one end using a contacted flame (10 seconds per ignition). The number of ignitions and the time for the flame to reach a white line were measured. With no flame retardant added (bottom strip): after a single ignition the flame reached the white line in 60 seconds. With 20 % ammonium polyphosphate flame retardant (APP commercial product): it took two ignitions and 120 seconds to reach the line. With 20 % of RFR, a lignin-based FR synthesized in Daren Laboratories: only after three ignitions and 200 seconds was the white line reached. Bio-based flame retardants have the potential to surpass traditional commercial products in efficiency and performance. By leveraging lignin-based FRs, Daren Labs contribute to more sustainable and effective fire safety solutions. 🍃 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eKkT-xKt 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 #bio-based Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

📣 Exciting times ahead for the COUNTLESS project! 🚀 The LignoValue pilot site and its unit operations at our project coordinator VITO is complete! 🎉 We have seen the location go from a bare concrete foundation to a functional pilot site. After months of hard work and coordination with numerous contractors: 🔹 All construction work is finished. 🔹 All environmental permits are secured. 🔹 Commissioning is done! Now, VITO is ready for starting full operation. We’re planning all units to operate with our operators and can’t wait to kick off the real experiments! 🌿🔬 The LignoValue Pilot aims to valorise lignin – turning nature’s aromatics into platform biochemicals in the COUNTLESS project. 🌱💡 #Innovation #Sustainability #Biochemicals #Lignin Biorizon VITO Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU)

📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – Fibenol 🌿📣🌍 Fibenol is our second feedstock provider in the project: they provide the LIGNOVA™ lignin which will be depolymerised by VITO and valorised in later processing steps. Fibenol's LIGNOVA™ is unique due to its Sunburst pre-treatment process, enabling the production of high-purity lignin with a low ecological footprint, no sulfur smell, and suitability for a wide range of applications using lower-quality certified hardwood as input material for the process. Fibenol plays a crucial role in the COUNTLESS_project as a raw material provider, helping to demonstrate the continuous conversion of lignin into platform chemicals at industrially relevant conditions, produce and showcase construction and cosmetics products using lignin-based chemicals, and utilise digital tools for process monitoring and decision support. 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/eByBdhnd 🌲 #Bioeconomy #Lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #Sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – Bloom Biorenewables 🌿 Bloom biorenewables is one of the two feedstock providers in the project: they provide the lignin which will be depolymerised by VITO and valorised in later processing steps. Bloom is a Swiss chemical company with the mission to create the most sustainable and high performing molecules for a green and viable chemical industry. Their scalable, highly efficient biomass conversion technology – Aldehyde-Assisted Fractionation (AAF) – separates plant-based materials, such as wood or agricultural wastes, into chemical building blocks while preserving their natural potential. In the consortium, Bloom aims to deliver un-condensed lignin which upon depolymerization can substitute high quality building blocks currently used by the chemical industry. Bloom focuses on upstream processes and counts on COUNTLESS’s partners to incorporate its ingredients in sustainable products formulations. 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/exPUxF7S 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT

🌍📣 COUNTLESS partner introductions – first up: our coordinator VITO 🌿 This is where the heart of COUNTLESS is located: the demo plant which will demonstrate the continuous hydrogenolysis of lignin at industrially-relevant scale, in order to produce lignin-based platform chemicals. VITO is an independent Flemish research organization in the area of cleantech and sustainable development, with its head office in Mol, Belgium. VITO are working on global projects to promote the transition to sustainability. They create innovative technological solutions and actively share their knowledge with businesses and government bodies. To maximize the impact on a sustainable society, VITO positions itself in 3 main domains: sustainable resource economy, climate adaptation & mitigation and sustainable living. The multidisciplinary business unit Materials and Chemistry (MATCH) works on the use of alternative resources including both biobased, circular and CO2 based feedstocks, such as lignin to create new value chains. The research team Sustainable POlymer Technologies (SPOT, https://lnkd.in/e3n2NMPv) has been active in the lignin field since 2012 and continuously improved its expertise, related to both lignin processing and application (polymer) development. VITO has also initiated Biorizon, a shared research centre focusing on technology development to produce functionalised biobased aromatics for performance materials, coatings and chemicals. In this context, VITO has launched in 2018 the LignoValue Pilot project aiming at the design and construction of a pilot plant for the depolymerization of lignin into a mixture of biobased aromatics. 📅 Stay tuned as we introduce all our project partners over the coming weeks. 🌐 Read more about the project: https://lnkd.in/er-3sQ_B 🌲 #bioeconomy #lignin 🍃 #COUNTLESS_Project #sustainability🌳 Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) VITO Bloom Biorenewables Braskem CLIB - Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie Daren Labs Fibenol ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH Kastamonu Entegre SOPREMA Entreprises Universiteit Utrecht VTT