Valorise Extensive quantities of HemIcellulosic and Cellulosic sugars from Lignocellulosic biomass into high-value End products
Modern pulp mills seek to valorise as many components as possible from their feedstock. This offers benefits to both the pulp mills – making them more profitable – and society, by reducing the environmental impacts. However, this process faces a number of challenges, including low technology readiness levels and competition from cheap fossil fuels. For second-generation biorefineries, it is vital to overcome these challenges.
For pulp mills, the main side-stream is hemicellulose-containing process liquors, which have little commercial value, given the difficulties isolating and purifying the hemicellulose carbohydrates. However, the high level of hemicellulose in both hard and soft woods represents a vast untapped carbohydrate resource available for production of high-value products. It also represents a large potential revenue stream for modern biorefineries, helping underpin their long-term viability.
The VEHICLE project will demonstrate novel biotechnological and non-biotechnological technologies for valorising dilute hemicellulose-containing side-streams from pulp mills.
Duration of VEHICLE is from May 1st, 2019 to April 30th, 2023.
Objectives
As well as its main objective of increasing the overall viability of biorefineries, notably pulp mills, the VEHICLE project aims to deliver on a number of objects.
Specifically, it will:
The VEHICLE project aims to enhance the business potential of existing and future European biorefineries. It also aims to have specific impacts. It will: