In the Netherlands, biobased chemical producer Avantium has been awarded a €6 million (USD$6.7 million) grant to advance its Dawn and Mekong technologies.
The funding was part of a SPIRE grant under the EU’s Horizon2020 subsidy program. The Mekong technology is a catalytic process to produce monoethylene glycol from biomass, while Dawn is a biorefinery process technology to convert non-food, plant-based feedstock into industrial sugars and lignin.
Avantium will also lead the IMPRESS research consortium, which received a €13 million (USD$14.4 million) SPIRE grant. The IMPRESS program aims to demonstrate a “new biorefinery concept based on integrating novel processes such as Avantium’s Dawn and Mekong technologies for the first time,” Avantium says in a press release. “It also intends to develop new separation and purification methods.” The integration of Dawn Technology with the production of plant-based MEG by the Mekong technology will be further improved by using the advanced high throughput R&D systems of Avantium Catalysis.
“The objective is to create a value chain starting from non-edible biomass to renewable chemicals and materials that meets both economic and sustainability criteria,” the company adds.