Led by biotechnology company Circa Group, the project will build a flagship plant to create levoglucosenone (LGO). A chemical building block, LGO can be used to produce bio-based solvent CyreneTM in one step, using feedstock from non-food renewable biomass.
CyreneTM is a bio-based alternative to traditional solvents such as NMP, DCM and DMF, which are under regulatory pressure worldwide due to their toxicity. With a unique property set, including viscosity, surface tension and polarities, CyreneTM can be used to produce a range of advanced materials.
The plant will be located in Eastern France and is expected to reach a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes of CyreneTM per year. Engineering work will begin next month and the estimated commissioning date is end of 2022.
ReSolute has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) and is bringing together 11 partners from six countries. It will provide new manufacturing and employment opportunities in product manufacture and downstream conversion in Europe.
ReSolute Partners are IAR (FR), Circa Sustainable Chemicals BV (BE), Merck KGaA (DE). Will & Co (NL), University of York (UK), Talga Resources (DE), Huntsman Specialty Chemicals (CH), CPL (UK), AgroParisTech (FR), PNO Consultants (FR) and PFA (BE)
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