REHAP
Turning agricultural and forestry waste into novel biobased materials for the Green building sector
| Business | Time | Project Coordinator | Funding Scheme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industry | Start date: October 2016 End date: September 2020 |
Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation | Horizon 2020 Call: H2020-IND-CE-2016-17 |
Challenge
Europe's position in the production of biochemicals from biomass and by-products is limited to a few compounds, while their demand is among the largest in the world. On the other hand, lignocellulosic waste constitutes one of the most abundant resource without competing with food chain.
REHAP project’s main objective is therefore revalorizing agricultural (wheat straw) and forestry (bark) waste through the recovery, primary and secondary processing to turn them into novel biobased materials.
In particular, REHAP aims at strengthening the European Bioeconomy industry by researching and optimizing new chemical processing routes, and demonstrating the technical and industrial viability to produce several building blocks from carbohydrates, lignin and tannin and to validate them into new biobased polymers, adhesive, concrete and wooden boards.
Approach
Biobased products do not necessarily mean that they are manufactured in a sustainable way. In this framework and considering that the European Union is currently investing in the transition from a linear fossil-based economy to a circular biobased one, the assessment of the sustainability of the innovative biobased processes plays a key role towards the establishment of the European bioeconomy.
In this view, RINA will support the Consortium by evaluating the environmental, economic and social impacts of the REHAP processes and products through Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA), Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The sustainability of the REHAP processes will also be evaluated through an adaptable multi-criteria approach towards the identification of resource efficiency measures in order to increase the processes’ sustainability.
Moreover, RINA will support the Consortium in the first steps towards the future standardization of the REHAP technologies and products as well as will assess the eligibility of each REHAP technology towards the application of the ETV verification process.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 723670.
Conclusion
REHAP will demonstrate the sustainable production of various biobased materials and products, targeting the Green building sector and with a high replicability potential. The project is expected to generate important impacts in terms of:
- decreased use of fossil resources (up to 80-100%), energy utilization and CO2 emission (above 30%) in the process industry
- creation of new jobs in the bio-based products sector
- improved innovation capacity and the integration of new knowledge at EU level
- improved industrial competitiveness.
