A sustainable bioeconomy covers the production of renewable biological resources and their efficient conversion into value-added products including feed, food, biobased products and bioenergy.
The bioeconomy involves many sectors and SusChem is an essential link between the chemical industry, industrial biotechnology and stakeholders in the bioeconomy involved in two major European Public Private Partnerships (PPPs): the Biobased Industries (BBI) Joint Undertaking and Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE).
SusChem’s working group in this area analyses the current and future programmes of these two PPPs to identify areas of complementarity and common interest and to develop opportunities for new programme content that will be implemented by the two PPPs. The working group also identifies project content for biobased materials applications and biotechnological processes that are implemented via SusChem’s own Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA).
SusChem has identified the following key areas of interest: the development of new micro-organisms and enzymes that can operate in processes at high pressures and temperatures for more efficient bio-catalysed processes, and the development of new engineered microbes for biodegradation of chemically inert waste, such as polymers, organic biological waste and gaseous effluents.