Projects

01-10-2021 - 31-12-2022

BIORECEPY project: Biomass for renewable energy and chemicals via pyrolysis

Biorizon co-initiator TNO and partners have recently started the BIORECEPY project to embark on extended bio-aromatics application development with the industry. Tires, epoxy resins and fuels will be developed out of lignin and lignin-rich biomass, using thermochemical conversion technologies.

Apollo Tyres Global R&D, Hexion and Progression Industry are looking for renewable intermediates for the production of tires, epoxy resins and fuels respectively. These chemicals can be produced from lignin and lignin-rich biomass.

TNO has developed several thermochemical routes, one of them being depolymerization of biomass via pyrolysis, and ENERPY has developed technology for radiolysis of organic waste materials for the production of valuable bio-oils. These routes, including the fractional bio-oil condensation technology, will be tuned and applied to produce defined oil fractions for the envisioned applications and to benchmark the biomass conversion technologies accordingly.

BIORECEPY will focus on the conversion of walnut shells as a well-defined agricultural model feed and lignin from biorefinery as representative recalcitrant feedstock for thermochemical depolymerization.

The obtained bio-oils will be validated by the partners indicated above for application in rubber, epoxy resins and fuels. This way, BIORECEPY will result in replacement of fossil-based chemicals and fuels by renewable alternatives, contributing to a potential reduction of CO2 emissions for the chemical and marine sectors and strengthening the Dutch economy.

Acknowledgements

The BIORECEPY project has received financial support from the Dutch TKI Biobased Economy (TKI-BBE).

More information

For more information on the BIORECEPY project, please contact Ilona van Zandvoort, biorefinery scientist at TNO at ilona.vanzandvoort@tno.nl or +31 (0)6 21 97 65 25.