The INN-PRESSME consortium is thrilled to announce the six projects selected through the second round of Open Calls (May – September 2023). The first open call winners are unveiled on this article.
Main challenges for the development of bio-based materials are linked to higher costs of production in many product categories, driven by high feedstock prices, technologies that have not yet been optimised and biomass feedstock composition variability.
Co-financed by INN-PRESSME, the winning companies are developing solutions to address those challenges, by using the 16 pilot lines’ technologies and tailored technical and market services. The six projects are developing diverse bio-based products such as printed antennas, smart insoles, bio-based additives from used textile, sustainable battery, PHA‑based blends, biofoam and coating.
These six small scale collaborative projects for development, testing, demonstration and verification of a new bio-based material, technology or product, with enhanced properties, are aiming to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6-7 at the end of the 9-month collaboration. Time has come to meet the winners (in alphabetical order):
- BioGuard – Biodegradable Antennas for Counterfeit Protection
Applicant Company: Cambridge Graphene Ltd.
Country: United Kingdom
INN-PRESSME Pilot lines leaders: CEA, CIDETEC
Material: Graphene, Cellulose
Process: Ink formulation, Screen printing
Description: By this project the company aims at extending their existing 2D inks and dispersions portfolio by formulating graphene with bio-based polymers for large scale and low-cost printing processes, to not only outperform traditional solutions but also contribute to an eco-friendlier landscape. With the new inks, BioGuard aims to revolutionize the world of printed antennas by achieving fully carbon NFC antennas printed on paper/cardboard substrates such that these devices can provide simple asset information or provide counterfeit protection, whilst being fully recyclable or biodegradable.
- CEC4BAA – Circular economy-compliant biopolyols for advanced applications.
Applicant Company: Ecorbio/CyRIC
Country: Cyprus
INN-PRESSME Pilot lines leaders: CEA, VTT, IPC, AITIIP
Material: biopolyols
Process: polymer synthesis, Filament production, 3D printing.
Description: The proposed technological concept encompasses the R&D advancements made by Ecorbio and CyRIC in the fields of sustainable biopolyol production and the manufacturing of smart insoles (insofeet), respectively. The unique opportunity is to explore alternative applications for ecorbio’s biopolyol with the emerging health tech solution of enhanced workplace safety via custom-tailored wearables produced using thermoplastic biopolyurethane (bioTPU). The participation in INN-PRESSME cascade effort to nurture industrial solutions for biomaterials would aid in the symbiosis of the partnership to enhance the circularity of advanced consumer products and components intended for individuals and produced via additive manufacturing. The successful implementation of the project would yield new applications for Ecorbio and more sustainable products at reduced costs for CyRIC. More broadly, it would demonstrate innovative industrial symbiosis at high TRL levels with sustainability at its core.
- Cellucircle – Textile recycling pilot: A nanocellulose approach
Applicant Company: Cellucircle
Country: Sweden
INN-PRESSME Pilot lines: RISE, VTT, CEA, IPC
Material: Textile cotton
Process: CNF-CNC preparation, compounding, filament production
Description: Extracting (nano)cellulose from cotton in the postconsumer textiles and enabling its use into new biobased products is considered as a smart, sustainable and greener way to increase the value of the bioresource, which can help to conserve resources and reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry. This extraction approach will then establish a resource efficient and safe-by-design manufacturing road map for biobased additives and materials, utilizing industrial biomass that is abundant and readily available in Europe, but that currently goes to waste. Then, by this project, Cellucircle company aims to do a commercial verification using INN-PRESSME platform for the conversion of postconsumer textiles into high-value biobased additives, biobased composites and sustainable 3D printed products.
- NAMBAT – Nanoscale cellulose material enabling sustainable batteries for mobility applications
Applicant Company: Delfort Group
Country: Austria
INN-PRESSME Pilot lines leaders: CIDETEC
INN-PRESSME services: INCOTEC (market analysis)
Material: Cellulose
Process: R2R electrode manufacturing
Description: NAMBAT will develop, improve and demonstrate in an industrially relevant environment a viable route for utilizing nanoscale cellulose-based materials for building sustainable and high-performance components for batteries. The project will first enable the production of fiber-based separators from bio-sourced precursors such as cellulose as alternative to petroleum-based battery compounds. Sustainable production technologies are used to transform the precursors into fiber-based separators. The material will be integrated and validated in a complete battery system integrating anode, cathode and separator and, additionally, a market analysis will be performed to accurately assess the impact of NAMBAT into the battery market.
- PHARAON – Development of PHA-based biodegRAdable blends for extrusiON.
Applicant Company: Natureplast
Country: France
INN-PRESSME Pilot lines leaders: VTT, IPC
INN-PRESSME services: AIMPLAS (disintegration), IRES (LCA study)
Material: PHA
Process: blown extrusion, cast extrusion, compounding.
Description: PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) are industrially available, however they are mostly developed for injection moulding processing, thus limiting their capacity to be used for products made by casting or extrusion blowing. The ambition is set on the development of PHA‑based blends adapted to these specific processes, where the viscosity requirements are different to those of injection moulding. This will allow proposing new commercial solutions, with an increased biobased content, while providing the required properties and processability. These solutions should also provide an improved environmental impact by eliminating at maximum the oil-based components.
- WOODFOAM – Roll-to-roll process to manufacture biofoams and water-resistant biodegradable coating.
Applicant Company: Woamy Oy
Country: Finland
INN-PRESSME Pilot lines leaders: VTT, POLYMARIS
INN-PRESSME services: AIMPLAS (disintegration), KCL (recyclability)
Material: PHA, FoamWood biofoam
Process: foaming, extrusion, coating
Description: As a response to plastic pollution, many bio-based foams enter to commercial state and start to scale up their production. Woamy desires to lead the development towards environmentally friendly bio-based packaging foamsto ensure that the best materials capture the packaging markets by the end of the decade. For instance, their FoamWood material has the advantage of directional mechanical properties which enable an excellent compression strength per density ratio compared to other biofoams. In collaboration with the INN-PRESSME partners. Woamy plans to develop a roll-to-roll production system to allow a continuous and fast production line, and therefore increase the volume/time ratio and decrease the costs of volume/labour, allowing FoamWood to be cost competitive and reach the market faster. Additionally, to improve the material qualities, Woamy aims to develop a recyclable, biodegradable but also water-resistant foam. This solution will allow FoamWood to replace EPS and other plastic foams in a wider range of applications, making it suitable for food packaging, building insulation, etc.