The main objective of the PROVIDES project is to develop a radically new, sustainable and techno-economically feasible pulping technology for wood and agro-based lignocellulose raw materials based on deep eutectic solvents (DES), a new class of natural solvents which have the unique ability to dissolve and thus mildly fractionate lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose at low temperature and atmospheric pressure for further processing into high added value materials and chemicals. The aim is to transfer recent scientific findings in novel lignin dissolving DES to process concept level that can be evaluated against current pulping processes. The technological breakthrough expected through the development of such new DES pulping technology could reduce process energy intensity by at least 40% and investment costs by 50% compared to traditional chemical pulping technology. In parallel, the development of efficient novel cellulose-dissolving DES and other DESs to process lignocellulose materials, starting with paper for recycling, is aimed at with focus on sustainability in selecting DES chemical components and technical and economic applicability of the solvent system. PROVIDES will create both fundamental and industry driven technological knowledge based on lab to bench/pilot scale experimentation, through: mapping and selection of most effective DES families; investigating processes and process technology options, including DES regeneration and recycling, in order to define full industrial processes that would isolate high quality cellulose/fibres, lignin and hemicelluloses; providing products for industrial evaluation; establishing technical data to evaluate industrial feasibility and integration; performing life-cycle oriented assessment of environmental and socio-economic performance; assessing impacts in terms of energy and cost reductions as well as new high added value applications PROVIDES could provide to the pulp and paper industry sector.

Europe is the second world producer of pulp and paper, manufacturing 130 million tonnes in 2014 and representing 23% of world production. The EU pulp and paper manufacturing and converting industries generate an annual turnover of €180 billion, representing 1,26% of the European GDP. In particular, the Pulp and Paper industry (PPI) has a turnover of €75 billion, comprises 920 plants and provides 180,000 jobs in Europe directly, and 1.5 million in the value chain. This sector is resource intensive and produces 11 million tonnes of waste yearly . It has been found that 25-40% of municipal solid waste generated each year worldwide is paper-related. Furthermore, Europe is nowadays facing the challenge of resource scarcity and more efficient use. If managed in a sustainable manner, PPI waste can become a valuable raw material for other resource intensive industries such as the construction (i.e 5,4 billion tonnes of raw material consumption) or the chemical industry (1 billion tonnes). Mining industry waste generation is estimated at up to 20.000 million tons of solid waste yearly, and relevant part of this waste needs to be kept in environmental safety conditions, which in turn implies additional use of resources (e.g borrow materials). New widespread markets are needed to extend the valorisation operations, reduce the landfilling rates and increase the competitiveness of the PPIs creating new added value markets for their inorganic waste. The overall objective of PAPERCHAIN is to deploy five novel circular economy models centred in the valorisation of the waste streams generated by the PPI as secondary raw material for a number of resource intensive sectors: construction sector, mining sector and chemical industry. PAPERCHAIN aims to unlock the potential of a resource efficient model based on industrial symbiosis which will demonstrate the potential of the major non-hazardous waste streams generated by the PPI as valuable secondary raw material.

Black Liquor to Fuel (BL2F) process produces drop-in biofuels for aviation and shipping from black liquor, a side stream of chemical pulping industry. 83 % CO2 reduction compared to fossil fuels, and competitive production cost of 0.90 €/l for drop-in sustainable aviation fuel are received. A large deployment, using a variety of biomass, can yield >50 billion liters of advanced biofuels by 2050, then satisfying the EU demand for advanced biofuels for aviation (15 Mtoe) and shipping (30 Mtoe). First-of-a-kind Integrated Hydro Thermal Liquefaction (IHTL) process at pulp mills produces fuel intermediate for further upgrading in oil refineries. Biomass is converted to low oxygen content (85 %. Integrated hydrothermal HydroDeOxygenation (IHDO) will further upgrade HTL-oil to fuel intermediate (< 5 w-% O2), classifying as bunker-like marine fuel or feedstock for high-quality aviation and marine fuels production. The process innovations of BL2F are: 1) combined salt separation and HTL-reactor, enabling direct upgrading of HTL-oil, 2) reforming of the aqueous phase to hydrogen, decreasing the need for external fossil hydrogen in IHDO, 3) integrating the process to pulp mill, offering cost reductions in treating of the gaseous and solid side streams by existing process installations. The BL2F is supported by CEPI, Avinor, and Rolls Royce and covers the whole value chain: The 6th largest producer in the world of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp NVG, the leading biorefinery supplier Valmet, catalyst developer Ranido and Neste, the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel collaborate with excellent research partners; VTT, PSI, SINTEF, Tampere University, KIT, Brunel University London. LGI and industrial partners maximize the impact of the project. The ambitious goals and strong consortium strengthens European leadership in renewable biofuels and climate protection.

Several crucial steps in wood industries involve extreme operation conditions (such as high temperature and pH) to remove or modify recalcitrant lignin that protects cellulose in the plant cell wall. Enzymes can substitute harsh and energy-demanding chemical treatments for sustainable production of bio-based building blocks and products in wood biorefinery. However, wild enzymes, evolved to act under natural environmental conditions, cannot be integrated into the current industrial processes. WoodZymes partners already have available extremozymes resisting very high temperature and pH that will be further optimized to be used as biocatalysts in wood industries. Enzyme application will include the recovery of phenolic compounds from enzymatic breakdown of technical lignin, and of lignin and hemicellulose compounds from enzymatic delignification and bleaching of kraft pulp (also resulting in more sustainable final cellulosic pulp). Extremophilic enzymes will also be used to valorize the latter compounds as bio-based precursors for adhesives in the manufacture of medium-density fiberboards, and as components of insulation polyurethane foams (substituting fossil building blocks), as well as for obtaining renewable sugar-based papermaking additives. WoodZymes illustrates the potential of extremozymes in the global bio-based economy, contributing to the sustainability and competitiveness of cellulose and board/polyurethane manufacture (as suggested by techno-economic and environmental analyses), and establishing a direct link between the pulp and wood industrial sectors. The feasibility of these objectives is based on a consortium from four EU countries formed by: i) four world-leading companies of the above industrial sectors; ii) a highly-active biotech SME commercializing extremophilic enzymes; and iii) four reputed research institutes of the wood, cellulose, lignin and enzymes sectors, being able to demonstrate the extremozyme-based technology at the pilot scale.