The kick-off meeting of FIRST2RUN project

24 September 2015
News

On 23 July 2015  was held in Brussels the kick-off meeting of First2Run project, coordinated by Novamont in partnership with four companies – SIP (UK), SoliQz (The Netherlands), Biophil (Slovakia), Matrìca, (Italy – JV 50:50 Novamont/Eni Versalis) – and a university (Alma Mater Studiorum – Bologna).“Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking” (BBI), the public/private partnership between the European Union and a consortium of bio-based industries (BIC, Bio-based Industries Consortium), has allocated a 17 million euros grant to the project.

The First2Run project, explained to the press by Catia Bastioli, CEO of Novamont and Barend Verachtert – Executive Director of the BBI JU, aims to demonstrate the technical, economic and environmental sustainability of a highly innovative, integrated bio-refinery.

Low input oilseed cultures (for example thistle) cultivated on arid and/or marginal land, are used to extract vegetable oils to be converted into bio-monomers (primarily pelargonic and azelaic acids) and esters for the formulation of bioproducts such as biolubricants, cosmetics, plasticisers and bio-plastics. By-products resulting from these manufacturing processes will be further enhanced to obtain animal feed, other value-added chemicals and energy from scraps in order to increase the sustainability of the value chain. Standardization, certification and dissemination will be integral aspects of the project, as well as a study into the social impact of products deriving from renewable resources.