Scaling up sustainable and biodegradable materials is crucial for the future advancement of European industry. Currently, many bio-based alternatives struggle to compete with established fossil-based chemicals due to challenges in environmental, economic, and societal performance. To overcome this, NEXT-STEP aims to develop recyclable products from wood production residues for everyday applications. New biochemical materials will be developed for shoe soles and insulation materials for construction.
Image Credit: AIMPLAS
By reducing manufacturing costs and using second-generation feedstocks such as hardwood sugars produced from residues derived from sustainably managed forests, NEXT-STEP aims to develop a new chemical platform, 3-methyl-d-valerolactone (3MdVL) that will improve the sustainability and recyclability of polyurethane (PU) products and unlock new engineering plastic applications for polylactic acid (PLA) co-polymers. This initiative seeks to address environmental concerns while fostering the adoption of bio-based materials in various industries. Thus, NEXT-STEP realizes a sustainable, safe, and affordable way to produce groundbreaking bio-based chemicals at a large scale.
This will be achieved through 6 specific objectives:
- Sourcing and process optimization for EU-based and sustainable feedstocks.
- Scale-up and demonstration of an innovative and resource-efficient process to produce aMVL.
- Scale-up resource-efficient catalytic processes to unlock the use of 3MdVL and 3MPD as bio-based platform chemicals.
- Commercially viable, safe and sustainable building blocks by design.
- Demonstrate the applicability of aMVL, 3MdVL and 3MPD as bio-based chemical platforms to produce bio-based products meeting market requirements.
- Definition of socially acceptable and competitive business and commercialization plan
12 Partners from 8 Countries
The project, coordinated by AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking and its members and gathers 12 partners from 8 EU countries across the value chain have come together to work on the development of sustainable materials from feedstock to end-products. The consortium includes the footwear company Adidas, Fibenol, DBFZ, Quantis, Sapienza Università di Roma, Mevaldi, PDC Research Foundation, Ghent University, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Certech, and Altar.