Project
BioCatPolymers will demonstrate a cost-effective, sustainable and efficient cascade technological route for the conversion of low-value, low-quality residual biomass to bio-polymers with equal or better performance than their fossil-based counterparts.
BioCatPolymers is specifically aiming at the efficient and economic production of isoprene and 3-methyl 1,5-pentanediol (3MPD), two monomers with very large markets that can be further processed in the existing infrastructure for fossil-based polymers for the production of elastomers and polyurethanes, respectively.
This ambitious target will be attained by optimizing and demonstrating the entire value chain, starting from the pre-treatment of low quality biomass to biological fermentation to MVL, separation of MVL from the fermentation broth, selective catalytic conversion to the targeted monomer, purification to polymer grade quality and polymerization to the final polymer product.
The novel approach proposed in this project surpasses the impediments of traditional solely bio-based approaches. It aims at producing bio-isoprene at 50% cost reduction and 3MPD at 70% cost reduction compared to average market prices, by optimizing the platform cell factories and all downstream processes and integrating the process modules, thereby increasing the competitiveness of biological processes in terms of economics.
