B4: Better Biobased Building Blocks

Eleven partners in West-North Brabant, led by Biorizon co-initiator TNO, will be working together to make green building blocks with local vegetable waste streams. From grass to glue, from sugar beet pulp to paint or from wood chips to insulation foam are examples of what the B4 project – Better Biobased Building Blocks - envisions. These building blocks not only make products for the construction industry more sustainable, but also provide scratch resistance, flame retardancy or UV resistance. Besides these technological innovations, the partners in this B4 project also share knowledge with students, companies and governments to prepare them for and involve them in this raw material transition. This will transform Western North Brabant into a hotspot for biobased building blocks for the construction industry.   

The construction sector faces a huge challenge: to cut CO₂ emissions by half by 2030 and 90% by 2050. One of the fossil building blocks that are going to be replaced by a sustainable alternative are aromatics. As much as 40% of all products around us contain aromatics. Think of paint, glue, insulation materials, textiles and foams. Currently, aromatics are made from fossil raw materials and this is not beneficial for our environment and climate.  

B4: Better Biobased Building Blocks  

The B4 project combines the entrepreneurship, knowledge and expertise of small and medium-sized companies (Relement, Impershield, Baril Coatings, Bodewes and Progression-Industry) and larger companies (Westlake Epoxy and Worlée) with the technologies and knowledge of TNO, VITO and Avans University of Applied Sciences. The partners want to show that biobased aromatics can successfully replace fossil aromatics in at least 6 applications for the construction industry, such as coatings, composites, acrylic and epoxy resins. And that these green alternatives are not only sustainable, but also commercially attractive.  

Green Chemistry Campus as epicenter  

The Green Chemistry Campus in Bergen op Zoom is the epicenter of this project. It is home to Shared Research Center Biorizon, an initiative of TNO and VITO that is working with partners on the technological development of bio-aromatics.   

By the inclusion of all stakeholders a flywheel will be created that will make the transition to a climate-neutral economy a reality. Within the B4 project, the Campus therefore organizes many meetings and workshops for a broad audience. For SMEs who want to know what the opportunities are for their company, for students considering a career in biobased chemistry, for employees in the chemical industry who want to know what will change for them when they start working with biobased raw materials, and for governments who want to know what the opportunities of this raw material transition are for their organization.

West-North Brabant as biobased hotspot  

Helping regions that rely heavily on fossil-based industries with the transition to a climate-neutral economy in a just and equitable way; that is the goal of the European Union's Just Transition Fund. The B4 project aims to make Western North Brabant a hotspot for biobased building blocks for the construction sector. West-North Brabant potentially has everything to realize this goal: residual agricultural products such as sugar beet pulp as green raw material, a chemical sector with a lot of knowledge and personnel and strong logistical connections. The B4 project partners want to offer sustainable economic prospects to the region by providing a new earnings model for the agricultural sector and creating additional jobs in the chemical industry.  

The B4 project has a total budget of €4.4 million and it is co-financed by the European Union under the Just Transition Fund (JTF), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and the Province of North Brabant.  

Contact  

For more information about the B4 project, please contact project leader Paul Könst at paul.konst@tno.nl or +31 (0)6 25 04 13 79. 

BIO-CAPPP

In June 2023, six partners from Flanders and the Netherlands started the BIO-CAPPP project. Over the next 3 years, together with companies, experts and students, they will develop sustainable chemical building blocks and apply them in products for the construction and textile sectors, among others. The application of these bio-aromatics not only makes the products more sustainable, but also provides premium properties. In this way, BIO-CAPPP contributes to the transition to a circular economy. The project has a total budget of €4.3 million and is co-funded by Interreg Flanders-Netherlands, VLAIO, the provinces of Antwerp, East-Flanders and North Brabant and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.

Forty percent of all chemicals are aromatic

Manufacturers of products such as plastics, paints, adhesives, insulation foam and textiles use aromatics to impart their products with high-quality properties, such as scratch resistance, UV resistance, adhesive strength or gloss. As much as 40% of all chemicals are aromatic in nature; this amounts to 122 million tons annually, worth €120 billion with an annual growth rate of 5%. So far, these aromatics are made from fossil raw materials and this has a negative impact on our environment.

Renewable aromatics

It is also possible to make aromatics from renewable sources: from lignin, the substance that gives strength to trees and is released as a by-product from the paper industry; or from non-edible residual sugars from the agricultural sector. But also, by recovering aromatics from plastics. Over the past 10 years, VITO and TNO, as initiators of Shared Research Center Biorizon, have successfully scaled up the technological development of bio-aromatics in collaboration with the European industry.

BIO-CAPPP: Biorizon Center for Applications & Products with Premium Properties

The BIO-CAPPP project will develop renewable aromatics and apply them in actual products, together with companies, experts and students. Together, the project partners will enable commercial production of bio-aromatics and stimulate the market for sustainable products with premium properties.

In the Biorizon Application Center, companies can collaborate with knowledge workers and students on favorable terms (innovation vouchers specifically for SMEs) to apply bio-aromatics in products for the construction and textile sector, among others. The bio-aromatics not only make these products more sustainable, but also more functional with premium properties.

In addition, the partners anchor the developed knowledge and skills in educational programs so that the workers of the future can put the sustainable innovations into practice at companies.

Project partners

In the BIO-CAPPP project, partners from Flanders and the Netherlands are working intensively together.

Project leader VITO from Flanders and TNO from the Netherlands have been collaborating ever since 2013 on the technological development of bio-aromatics from sugars, lignin and unrefined waste streams under the flag of Shared Research Center Biorizon. The Flemish CENTEXBEL and Avans University of Applies Sciences / MNEXT from the Netherlands will work with VITO to develop innovative applications based on the lignin- and sugar-based building blocks, with a specific focus on the construction and textile sectors. Kamp C from Flanders will inform, inspire and support end users, the building sector and local authorities in the use of the sustainable innovations. The Green Chemistry Campus will be the project's central meeting place where entrepreneurs, governments and knowledge institutions will work together to scale up the bio-based and circular innovations and where citizens can experience the transition in the experience center. 

Contact

For more information about the BIO-CAPPP project and the possibilities of the Biorizon Application Center to test bio-aromatics in actual products, please contact BIO-CAPPP project manager Kelly Servaes from VITO at kelly.servaes@vito.be or +32 (0)4 93 31 87 46.

Interreg Flanders-Netherlands

The BIO-CAPPP project has a total budget of €4.3 million and is co-funded by Interreg Flanders-Netherlands, the cross-border cooperation program with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund, VLAIO, the provinces of Antwerp, East-Flanders and North Brabant and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.