Addressing separation and purification challenges in biorefineries

Expected Outcome

Successful proposals will contribute to the updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the Circular Economy Act, the Clean Industrial Deal, the European Chemical Industry Action Plan and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.

Projects results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• Enhancing competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability, circularity and safety of industrial biorefineries.
• Efficient, selective and scalable separation and purification technology platform(s) with high potential to be integrated within existing and/or new biorefineries.
• Purity and stability of targeted intermediates/product(s) compatible with further conversion requirements.

Scope

While significant advancements have been made in recent years in the development of core biorefinery processes, challenges remain in separation and purification steps.

Separation and purification, both upstream and downstream of biorefinery processes, play a key role in determining quality and purity of the intermediates and products. They usually account for a significant share of the whole process costs and are often a relevant bottleneck towards full-scale deployment and commercialisation of bio-based products (including intermediates, chemicals, ingredients, materials). It is therefore crucial to develop new technologies to improve separation and purification performances, while at the same time improving resource efficiency and reducing costs.

Proposals under this topic should:

• Develop scalable separation and purification technologies and test the developed innovative solutions on at least 3 use cases from biorefinery processes at industrial or demo scale. Each technology should address at least two of the following:
• increase efficiency when using available green solvents (including water), or develop novel ones and in both cases minimise the use of harsh solvents;
• applying process intensification including through reduction of process steps;
• reducing thermal and/or electric energy and water consumption.
• Address compatibility of the innovative separation and purification solutions with existing upstream technologies or develop solutions that address simultaneously the upstream and downstream challenges.
• Test and validate the performance of targeted technologies and their effect on selected bio-based product(s). Both novel (not yet available on the market) and well-established bio-based products are in scope.

In addition to the specific requirements applicable for the type of action, as described in section 2.2.3.1 of the CBE JU Annual Work Programme 2026[1], proposals under this topic should:

• Include a task to apply the SSbD framework, developed by the European Commission for the assessment of targeted biorefinery products obtained using the developed separation and purification processes. For more information on the SSbD framework and criteria, refer to Safe and sustainable by design.
• Ensure complementarities with past and ongoing R&I projects addressing similar challenges, including projects funded under Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe (under Cluster 6 and other Clusters of Horizon Europe) and BBI JU/CBE JU projects.

[1] https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents