BioValue Platform - Developing sustainable biorefining technologies for Denmark

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The establishment of medium and long-term strategic partnerships between actors from business and science fields is essential for activating the bioeconomy and bringing new biorefining technologies to the market. In this sense, the BioValue Platform is an interesting example of medium-term alliance that is focused on ensuring that Denmark becomes a world leader in developing solutions for tomorrow’s biobased society. The platform is laying a foundation of knowledge and innovation for the substitution of products and processes based on fossil raw materials with sustainable value chains based on refining of biomass.

Figure 1. Scope of the BioValue Platform (extracted from BioValue web page)

The following are some facts about this platform:
In addition to the members listed above, Small and Medium size Enterprises link to the platform as partners in innovation projects. The new knowledge generated in universities and large companies are transferred to SMEs, which develop technologies to hit commercial markets within 2-3 years.

The target is the entire value chain from sustainable biomass production to separation and conversion of all components of biomass into value-added products. In order to cover this target, six research and innovation projects have been started up.

Project
Title
Examples of study areas
Budget
1
Innovative biomass production,
harvesting and conservation technologies
- Multi-functional crop rotations optimizing environmental sustainability and maximum crop growth.
- Cost-effective management practices for marginal lands.
3 M€
2
Products from green biomass
- Efficient pretreatment methods to produce protein and feed from domestically-produced green biomass.
- Test of quantity and quality of soluble and solid fibre associated protein fractions produced in a pilot plant.
2 M€
3
Upgraded sugar streams from biomass
- Novel enzyme mixtures.
- Enzyme immobilization technologies.
- New methods to separate sugars and lignin.
4 M€
4
Lysine production
- Develop and demonstrate a commercially relevant process for production of L-lysine, based on 2G feedstocks.
1.5 M€
5
Catalytic conversion of carbohydrate streams
- Develop new catalytic materials and processes for direct conversion of sugars into value-added products.
2 M€
6
Value-added products from lignin
- New methods for conversion of lignin into value-added products.
- Design a pilot facility for hydrothermal conversion of lignin and other biomass streams.
2.4 M€

There are three competence centres that strengthen the coherency of the projects: Biomass, Separation, and Conversion. In addition, two sub-platforms exchange knowledge with all projects, across the competence centers.

Subplatform
Title
Scope
1
Socio-economics, Sustainability and Ethics (SeSE) platform
- Links the results from the six projects into a value chain context in order to assess the sustainability of biomass production and biobased products, in terms of economic impacts, environmental effects and ethical aspects.
2
Innovation platform
- 1.5 M€ to be co-financed 50 % by SME.
- Projects of up to 3 years duration.
- AgroTech and INBIOM manage administration.
- Synergy with existing BioValue projects is preferred.

For instance, two applications for innovation projects were approved during last June. One of them, it is a collaboration between GreenField ApS, Dacofi Holding ApS and several BioValue partners, to test the soluble protein fraction from green biomass for human consumption in protein soft drinks.

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