Imagine replacing the harmful chemicals in your food cans or furniture with safe ingredients made from plant waste. Instead of using oil-based toxins that can leak into the body, this work uses smart computer models to design green alternatives. It is like swapping a dangerous chemical recipe for a healthy, plant-based one that does the same job.
Companies using aromatic chemicals like BPA and nonylphenol face increasing regulatory pressure and health risks. Finding replacements that don't sacrifice performance or increase costs is a major barrier.
Bio-based aromatic compounds and machine learning models for hazard assessment and molecular design.
If you are a can coating manufacturer dealing with regulations on bisphenol A (BPA) — this project developed bio-based aromatic replacements that provide a safer, lower carbon footprint alternative for food packaging.
If you are a detergent producer dealing with toxic alkylphenols in your surfactants — this project developed renewable compounds that maintain cleaning performance while removing substances of very high concern.
If you are a flame retardant supplier dealing with health concerns in furniture foams — this project developed bio-based aromatic chemicals that act as safe, sustainable replacements for fossil-based additives.
Based on available project data, the project will map substitution barriers specifically including production cost to determine the economic viability of the replacements.
The selected chemicals will be upscaled to a multi kg scale for investigation in industrial applications.
Based on available project data, there is no specific mention of licensing terms, but the consortium includes 10 industrial partners who will likely manage the commercialization path.
The project uses the Safe and Sustainable-By-Design (SSbD) framework to ensure new chemicals are benign and support EU policy regarding substances of very high concern.
The project period runs from 2024-12-01 to 2028-11-30, suggesting that validated industrial applications will be ready by late 2028.
The project is heavily industry-driven with a 56% industry ratio, comprising 10 companies including 4 SMEs. This strong commercial presence, combined with 6 universities and 2 research centers across 8 European countries, suggests a high focus on market viability and a direct pipeline from lab design to industrial application.
Contact the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven for technical details on the biorefinery process.
Contact us to identify which of the 10 industrial partners is leading the specific application for your sector.
