From Research to Industrial Application

VTT offers development of holistic biomass processing for turning bio-based raw materials into valuable products and upgrades renewable raw material or waste streams into industrial raw materials for novel fibre products, textiles, plastic-like products, biochemicals and other ingredients. VTT´s expertise focuses on biomass pretreatments for bio-based chemicals, biomass fractionation for cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin based products and the modification of biomass fractions for value-added applications.

VITO advises governments and companies on sustainable materials management, product life cycles and circular economy. We help companies to close loops and develop and evaluate technologies. So higher-quality products can be made using fewer resources and waste streams can be better valorised. Two of VITO´s specialisations is material recovery from waste streams and conversion of waste to new products.

TNO Biobased and Circular Technologies (BCT) focuses on the thermochemical conversion of sustainably grown biomass into sustainable energy, chemicals and materials. TNO’s Biomass Expertise Group has a long proven track record developing industry inspired technologies for biomass with special focus on biomass upgrading, combustion and gasification, biorefinery concepts, enerchar and pyrolysis.

SINTEF's expertise helps industry, government and other organizations to assess and implement the use of biomass and waste for energy purposes. SINTEF carries out basic and applied research within the conversion of biomass to heat and power and offer project-based research and development for all industries within the sector. Their areas of expertise are biofuels, biorefineries, industrial and environmental biotechnology, pyrolysis, torrefaction, fuel characterisation and emissions.

The purpose of RI.SE´s Bioeconomy Research Programme is to assist enterprises to extend visions and identify research areas with a future potential. The vision is a future fossil free society where renewable sources are highly utilised. RI.SE´s main areas of focus are to improve material utilisation efficiency, add value to products, develop waste and side-stream materials to valuable goods.

Energy research performed at the Paul Scherrer Institute is focused on processes that can be used in sustainable and safe technologies for the supply of energy with - ideally - zero CO2 emission. The main emphasis is on the development of processes for the utilization of renewable energy sources and low-emission conversion of energy. Scientists at PSI are working on processes for producing propellants or fuels with overall zero CO2 emission during the complete fuel cycle. One method of doing this is to use biomass - such as wood, manure or sewage sludge. Researchers at PSI are developing processes with which fuels such as Synthetic Natural Gas can be generated from biomass, and are working on scaling up these methods for industrial application.

LIST´s Department of Environmental and Industrial Biotechnologies is the convergence of numerous scientific and engineering disciplines to provide biocatalysts and bioprocesses for the production of a wide variety of goods. It offers a new sustainable approach to manufacturing of materials, chemicals and energy from renewable resources, enabling the circular bio-economy. One of LIST´s main research areas is the valorisation of end-of-use plant biomass and other waste streams from agri-food supply chains as a source for bioenergy, biopolymers and chemical building blocks for innovative and commercially interesting applications

The main areas of activities focus on bioeconomy, material recovery, i.e. the main components of the Circular Economy, through the development of technologies for obtaining raw materials, waste and wastewater treatment, eco-design of processes and products in the pulp and paper and packaging industries, as well as the production of composite and biodegradable materials. In addition, nanotechnology for renewable energy and for the transformation, storage and rationalization of energy management and is an important aspect in work related to energy security, including the production of energy from renewable sources, as well as prosumer energy, energy from waste and alternative fuels, and technologies for photovoltaic devices. Innovations in this area also apply to sustainable agriculture.

LEITAT´s mission is to collaborate in the generation of technological knowledge and its application to develop and bolster the competitiveness of companies in the field of technology and innovation. One of LEITAT´s research areas is the Circular Economy with a department dedicated to the research of waste/by-product treatment and recovery. Urban, biomass, mixed or complex industrial, conditioning technologies, transformation from waste to product (hydrolysis/extraction, bioconversion), energy recovery (anaerobic digestion, thermal processes, bioelectrochemical systems).

IFPEN has a dedicated research and development department dedicated to innovation in the renewable energy sector. Their areas of special focus are Biofuels, from the pretreatment of biomass to fuel production, via the optimization and integration of the different steps; Biogas, IFPEN develops eco-efficient biogas purification processes prior to reinjection into the network; Bio-based chemistry, IFPEN is working on the development of processes, catalysts and biocatalysts for the transformation of biomass into bases for the chemicals sector.