Press releases

Most detergents, cosmetics, and clothes, to name just a few products, are manufactured using petroleum, making such everyday items anything but eco-friendly. It is now possible to produce the bio-based and CO2-neutral basic chemicals for such articles with the help of fungi. Fraunhofer research teams are developing fermentation techniques and manufacturing processes to produce them on an industrial scale.

Over the next four years the European UNRAVEL project will demonstrate a sustainable and economically feasible biorefinery for the conversion of second generation biomass into fuels, chemicals and building materials. In their efforts the partnership that comprises research organisations, SMEs and large industry from six European countries are supported by the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) which funds the UNRAVEL project with 3.6 million Euros.

Over the next three years, the eight project partners Axxence, CLIB2021, Fraunhofer CBP, KU Leuven, LXP Group, Phytowelt, UPM and VITO join forces to develop “Aromatics from LIGNin”. Phenolic resins will be applied for the production of high-pressure-laminates as well as natural vanillin for food and beverages. The German project partners will receive 1.3 m EUR from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Using ultrapure lignin from the lignocellulosic biorefinery at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, researchers at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (TU HH) have produced lignin-containing aerogels and processed high-porosity insulating boards with excellent insulation properties. The lignin was recovered from beech residual wood at the Fraunhofer CBP using the Organosolv process.

On August 30, 2017, the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB received start-up funding from the Catalyst Fund of the State of New Zealand for their cooperation with SCION, a New Zealand Crown Research Institute focusing on the wood industry and processing. In the future, the two institutes will work together to develop new ideas in the field of bark utilisation in biorefineries and plan joint research projects.

SmartPilots, an INTERREG Europe project co-funded by the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF), brings together six leading European Shared Pilot Facilities (SPF) specialized in the Key Enabling Technology "Industrial Biotechnology" and bioeconomy, with the aim to discuss and share best funding and operating practices and improve policies in support of such facilities. Enhanced support for Shared Pilot Facilities should substantially improve Europe’s sustainable innovation capacity and is a crucial element in dealing with societal challenges such as developing a sustainable, innovative and knowledge-based economy in Europe, creating jobs and meeting climate targets.

Fuel additives such as isooctane have so far been produced from mineral oil. Commissioned by the French-German company Global Bioenergies, the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna will soon be producing biobased additives for gasoline. The source is bio-isobutene, which is obtained biotechnically from sugar.

In order to build an open-access research infrastructure for the forest-based bioeconomy, the project ERIFORE started under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. The ERIFORE consortium will hold its first public workshop on the 6th of September 2016 in Leuna, Germany and is happy to invite research institutions and stakeholders to visit the Fraunhofer CBP pilot plants.

The BioConSepT research project developed production processes based on non-edible biomass. In comparison to current processes for bioplastic production, they are not competing with food production and processes aim to be cheaper and more sustainable.

Many products, including food supplements, cosmetics and biodiesel, are made from substances derived from microalgae. A fully automated pilot plant operated by Fraunhofer in Leuna is capable of producing microalgae on pilot scale. The concentration of algae in its reactors is five times higher than in conventional closed reactors. The researchers who designed the plant will be exhibiting it at the ACHEMA 2015 show in Frankfurt am Main from June 15 to 19 (Hall 9.2, Booth D64).

Global Bioenergies has delivered the first batch of renewable gasoline to Audi. The first isobutene batch produced from renewable resources (here: corn-derived glucose) at Global Bioenergies’ industrial pilot in Pomacle-Bazancourt, near Reims in France, had been delivered to the chemical company Arkema early May 2015. Subsequent isobutene batches have been converted into isooctane by the Fraunhofer CBP at the Leuna refinery where Global Bioenergies is now building its demo plant.

Evry (France) and Munich (Germany) – July 3, 2014 – Global Bioenergies (Alternext Paris : ALGBE) and the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP announced today that they have signed the contract for the commissioning and the operation of Global Bioenergies' second industrial pilot plant to be built on the Leuna refinery site.

No more oil – renewable raw materials are the future. This motto not only applies to biodiesel, but also to isobutene, a basic product used in the chemical industry. In a pilot plant researchers now want to obtain this substance from sugar instead of oil for the first time. And in order not to threaten food supplies, in the long term the sugar should come from wood or straw and not from sugar beet. Researchers will present these new activities at the Hannover Trade Fair / Industrial GreenTec from 7 to 11 April in Hannover (Hall 6, Booth J18).

Global Bioenergies will construct an industrial pilot for the production of isobutene from renewable raw materials at the Fraunhofer CBP. This new pilot plant, to be supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through a EUR 5.7 million grant, should include a 3-year study at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP.

A current market report was published within the EU funded project BioConSepT. This report compiled by project partner Weastra includes market analysis of succinic acid, itaconic acid and FDCA (2,5 furandicarboxylic acid).

In the 3rd consortium meeting in Cologne a number of research results were presented. In the current BioConSepT newsletter read more about the discussions and decisions made in order to fill the gap between research and industrial application.

Crude oil is getting scarce. This is why researchers are seeking to substitute petroleum-based products – like plastics – with sustainable raw materials. Waste wood, divided into lignin and cellulose, could serve as a raw material. A pilot plant has been set up to handle this division on a larger scale. The pilot plant opened on October 2 as part of the new building constructed for the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna.

Oil-independence is the dream of many countries that lack raw materials. Nevertheless, black gold still retains its dominant role as a power source, and also serves as a basic material for the chemical industry. In order to change this, researchers started the “Integrated BioProduction” project. At the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, the pilot plant-scale production of epoxides, made from domestic vegetable oils, begins in October. The intermediate chemical products support the production of lubricants, surfactants and emulsifiers.