In the EU-projects OPTIMSC and MultiHemp promising miscanthus and hemp germplasm was identified for crop production suitable for various end uses. In OPTIMISC also a large number of genotypes were screened for various stress tolerances (e.g. frost, drought, salinity) which are key traits for good performance under marginal conditions. However, both projects worked on small trial plots and identified utilization options only at lab scale. Miscanthus or hemp varieties that are specifically suitable for marginal lands are not yet available. A major bottleneck for development of such varieties is the lack of information on their large scale performance. Therefore the next step to develop these biomass crops for the growing bioeconomy is to demonstrate the feasibility of upscaling their production. Cultivars also need to meet the quality requirements of the specific end uses. Based on knowledge gained by the projects OPTIMISC and MultiHemp, the biomass composition of the germplasm is largely known and can be matched to the specific end uses. However, the upscaling of these value chains with tailored germplasm is not yet proven and represents a bottle neck for their wider application. The objective of this project is to demonstrate 1) the upscaling of crop production of miscanthus and hemp genotypes matched to end use and 2) their suitability for marginal, contaminated and unused land. Another aim of the project is to demonstrate the upscaling of the most promising biomass valorization chains with tailored genotypes. Various valorization options will be tested by associated partners (industry panel) and a subset will be demonstrated at (pre)commercial scale. The overall aim of the project is to have commercial cultivars, which are suitable for marginal, contaminated or unused land, available at the end of the project with proven feasibility for a set of end-uses. This includes their performance in the value chain, but also their environmental and economic profile.

In 2017, EU GHG emissions, including emissions from international aviationEurope has successfully reduced its GHG emissions since 1990 levels. The pace of reducing CO2 emissions is positive, however it is projected to slow after 2020 resulting in difficulties to achieve EU’s reduction target of 55% by 2030 as planned in the European Green Deal. Additional measures and policies are foreseen in EU to forefront this situation. Negative emissions technologies, as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) ones are currently a priority to explore, especially in non-exploited industrial sectors such as the bio-based industry as they significantly contribute to CO2 emissions. CATCO2NVERS will contribute to reduce GHG emissions from the bio-based industries developing 5 innovative and integrated technologies based on 3 catalytic methods (electrochemical, enzymatic and thermochemical). It will transform waste-CO2 (up to 90%) and residual biomass from 2 bio-based industries into 5 added-value chemicals (glyoxylic acid, lactic acid, furan dicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME), cyclic carbonated fatty acid methyl esters (CCFAMEs) with production yields between 70-90%. Methanol which will not have an energetic use but will be used in CATCO2NVERS own technologies. These target chemicals will be used as building blocks and monomers to obtain biopolymers of 100% bio-origin. Industrial partners will validate the application of the obtained chemical building blocks on the most relevant markets. In addition, the waste-CO2 stream will be conditioned by removing potential inhibitors for the catalysts. CATCO2NVERS will meet some of the principles in green chemistry (atom economy, use of renewable feedstocks, reduce derivatives and use of catalysts instead of stoichiometric reagents). CATCO2NVERS will explore an energy and resource efficient scenario following an industrial symbiosis model to ensure a biorefinery process along the CO2 valorization chain with zero or negative GHG emissions.

Although they have the potential to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of biorefineries, oxidative enzymes have not experienced a complete breakthrough yet in the biobased industries. This is mainly caused by the high cost and long time associated with traditional enzyme engineering methods such as directed evolution. SMARTBOX will develop an advanced computational engineering platform specifically for oxidative enzymes, which can automatically screen for improved enzyme variants with minimal human intervention. This is achieved by implementing several innovations into current computational screening methods, most importantly machine learning, which allows to train the algorithms with experimental results. As this significantly improves computational predictability, the time and costs associated with oxidative enzyme engineering will be reduced 10-fold compared to state-of-the-art (SOTA) directed evolution methods. Relying on the advanced engineering platform, SMARTBOX will develop the one-enzyme conversion of HMF into FDCA and intermediates, and the one-enzyme conversion of lignin monomers into a potential biobased building block for polycarbonates and vanillin. By adopting a 1-enzyme FDCA production process, the associated production costs and carbon footprint are expected to decrease significantly compared to SOTA chemical oxidation methods. The unique feature of SMARTBOX is that reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) will be used to selectively produce specific lignin monomers from biomass in near theoretical yields. The structural similarity of the resulting monomers with the SMARTBOX building blocks allows the development of high-yielding processes with only one enzyme. Due to the smart combination between oxidative biocatalysis and RCF, the production of bio-aromatics will proceed with higher yields than the state of the art.

Mypack general objective is to help sustainable food packaging technologies to reach or to extend their market. It will provide general guidelines to select the best market for a new technology and to ensure the best commercial development, through (i) the best environmental efficiency (direct impacts of packaging, food waste impacts, optimized recycling composting combusting end life, preserved consumer health), (ii) the best consumer acceptability, and (iii) an optimized industrial feasibility. In order to do so, 3 ambitious SMART key objectives with associated KPIs will be considered during the Mypack project to promote the commercial development of: - Biodegradable and compostable packaging. - Packaging from renewable resources. - Elaborated (high barrier and active) packaging technologies. Barriers and challenges are clearly identified and solutions to overcome them are presented. 7 innovative sustainable food packaging solutions are considered of which 5 will be developed and exploited. The sustainable food packaging state of the art is comprehensively described and it is made clear how Mypack solutions will extend beyond it. Appropriate measures, in line with the work program, were selected to maximize the impact of the project. Mypack project targets the scope of the call throughout this proposal and is thus fully in line with the call objectives. A convincing exploitation plan is presented in the form of 7 work packages, 5 of which are technical in nature. Appropriate milestones and risks are considered in order to complete the project objectives in the due time. The Mypack consortium is composed of 18 partners, covering the academic, scientific and industrial world, including SMEs. Major stakeholders have provided letters of intent, showing their interest in the Mypack approach which will have essential impact in order to define the best markets for the exploitation of innovative sustainable food packaging solutions.