Imagine taking wood chips or agricultural leftovers and cooking them briefly at high heat — like a pressure cooker for plants. What comes out are separate chemical building blocks that can replace petroleum-based ingredients in everyday industrial products like plywood glue, roof coatings, and wood preservatives. The team built a demo plant processing 3 tonnes per day and showed they could swap out 30 to 100 percent of the fossil-based chemicals in these products. They proved the concept works with four different types of biomass, so manufacturers aren't locked into a single raw material.
European manufacturers of plywood, roofing materials, and wood preservatives depend heavily on petroleum-based chemicals whose prices are volatile and whose environmental footprint is under increasing regulatory scrutiny. Switching to bio-based alternatives has traditionally meant compromising on performance or paying a steep premium. These companies need a proven, flexible supply of renewable chemical building blocks that can drop into existing production without major retooling.
A 3 t/d demonstration plant that thermally fractionates biomass into separate chemical streams, plus four validated end products: bio-based wood preservation products, furanic resins, phenolic resins, and roofing material. Representative plywood samples were manufactured using the green resins.
If you are a plywood manufacturer dealing with rising petrochemical resin costs and tightening VOC regulations — this project developed green phenolic and furanic resins from biomass that can substitute 30-100% of your fossil-based adhesives. They produced representative plywood samples using these green resins in a demonstrated value chain. This gives you a renewable supply route that reduces fossil dependency.
If you are a wood treatment company facing regulatory pressure to phase out toxic preservatives — this project demonstrated bio-based wood preservation products derived from thermally treated biomass. The process was validated at a 3 t/d demo plant with four different biomass feedstocks. You get a drop-in renewable alternative without retooling your application process.
If you are a roofing material producer looking to reduce your dependence on petroleum-derived bitumen and binders — this project created bio-based roofing material as a cost-effective renewable alternative. The technology reached TRL 6-7 with demonstration across the full value chain from biomass collection to end product. This lets you market greener roofing products to sustainability-conscious builders.
The project included techno-economic assessments and business plans for commercialization, but specific cost figures are not available in the public data. The objective states the bio-based alternatives are positioned as 'cost-effective renewable alternatives' to fossil resources. Contact the consortium for detailed pricing and economic analysis.
This is well past the lab stage. The consortium built and operated a 3 t/d demonstration plant, and the project targeted TRL 6-7 (system demonstrated in relevant environment). The full chain from biomass collection through conversion to end products was demonstrated at scale.
The consortium of 10 partners across 5 countries jointly developed the technology. B.T.G. Biomass Technology Group BV (Netherlands) coordinated the project. Licensing arrangements would need to be discussed directly with the relevant consortium partners who developed each product line.
The process was demonstrated with 4 different biomass resources representative of the majority of biomass available in Europe. This feedstock flexibility means you are not locked into a single supply chain and can adapt to locally available biomass.
Based on the project objectives, the bio-based alternatives achieve 30-100% substitution of fossil resources depending on the product line. Wood preservation, furanic resins, phenolic resins, and roofing materials each have different substitution rates within that range.
The project closed in June 2021 after reaching TRL 6-7. Business plans for commercialization of individual product lines and the overall value chain were developed as part of the project. The next step would be scaling from demonstration to full commercial production.
This is a heavily industry-driven consortium with 9 out of 10 partners from industry (90%) and zero universities — unusual for EU projects and a strong signal of commercial intent. Five of the partners are SMEs, including the coordinator B.T.G. Biomass Technology Group BV from the Netherlands, a well-known biomass technology company. The consortium covers the entire value chain from biomass collection through primary and secondary conversion to final end products across 5 European countries (Belgium, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, UK). The absence of academic partners and presence of 2 large industries alongside 4 SMEs suggests this project was designed for near-market demonstration rather than fundamental research.
B.T.G. Biomass Technology Group BV (Netherlands) — a biomass technology SME that coordinated the 10-partner consortium
Want an introduction to the Bio4Products team to discuss licensing their bio-based resin or wood treatment technology? SciTransfer can arrange a direct meeting with the right consortium partner for your product line.
