Twelve partners from seven countries will demonstrate the entire value chain of biogenic CO over the next 4 years2 from wastewater to polymer end use in the Horizon Europe project HICCUPS.
HICCUPS literally stands for “Highly Innovative technology demonstration for biobased CO2 Capture and Utilization for production of bulk plastics applications.” This is therefore an innovative method of extracting biogenic CO2 from wastewater treatment plants into biobased polymers (particularly PLGA, also called Poly) for the packaging industry.
PLGA (polylactic-co-glycolic acid) is a polymer with excellent water and gas barrier properties, fully biodegradable and made entirely from renewable raw materials. This makes it a promising candidate for the replacement of fossil polyethylene (PE). This is currently the most used plastic worldwide. To demonstrate the potential of PLGA, (food) packaging materials will be produced, such as PLGA film-coated paper and molded plastic.
Value chain
The entire value chain is demonstrated in this project, from capturing biogenic CO2 to the final application in products. The global ACCIONA group will build a demonstration plant in Spain where biogas from the anaerobic digestion of waste sludge is captured and purified. This is done in collaboration with Aqualung Carbon Capture Company (Norway) and research partners SINTEF (Norway) and FUNDITEC (Spain).
Dutch renewable chemicals manufacturer and project coordinator Avantium will produce the PLGA using two innovative technologies: first, electrochemical conversion of CO2 to oxalic acid, followed by reduction to glycolic acid and then the polymerization of glycolic acid into PLGA. In this process step, Avantium will work closely with research partner VTT (Finland).
Project partners WALKI (Finland) and Tecnopackaging (Spain) make packaging materials with PLGA, mainly for the consumer market. They will produce and test these materials in their industrial pilot plants, including paper coatings with PLGA. The University of Ferrara (Italy) will conduct the processing research to determine the optimal conditions for the paper coating.
Accompanying studies
To demonstrate the potential of HICCUPS technology for the packaging industry, a number of accompanying studies will be initiated during the project by well-known institutes such as the University of Amsterdam, INRAE (France) and the Nova Institute (Germany). Think of digital projections, life cycle analyses, studies into biodegradability and recycling and an extensive business case analysis. Nova-Institute and Avantium take care of the distribution, communication and knowledge transfer.
The HICCUPS project started in September 2023 and will run until the end of August 2027. It receives a €5 million grant from EU Horizon Europe. More information will be available soon on the project website.
Statue: HICCUPS Project Team
Source: Agro-Chemie.nl
